Greetings, earthlings! This first chapter is a little thought that came upon me as we both reached for the gun! Haha. Actually, I was watching some dumb soap-opera type show in an attempt to procrastinate whilst (not) doing some anthropology note reading. It just looks like English, it really is in Croatian-pfft, yeah, right! I own nobody except the woman with the evil bird, the priest and the friendly-looking dude. And I've got no idea how Croatian courts work-I've really got no idea how any courts work, so hope this approaches something like accurate. Short, but will be chaptered. Amusez-vous bien. -RT

Te voglio bene assai,

ma tanto tanto bene sai,

e una catena ormai

che scioglie il sangue dint'e vene sai! -Caruso

Zagreb, Croatia, September 1987

'Danijela, this is a really bad idea.'

'No,it isn't.'

'It is. We haven't asked anyone, we haven't told anyone-what are people going to think? Besides, he probably won't even be there.'

'Who do we need to ask? We're both eighteen. Anyway, he's always there on Sunday afternoons.'

'We need to get heaps of huge forms, things to sign. And even if he-will you stop pulling me? Even if he is, he's not going to do it.'

'He will, he adores me. He knows my family. And I think he's in love with my mother.'

'He doesn' t know me! Anyway, we have to be at Tomo's in...three hours. This will take longer than three hours. Stop pulling me!'

'Then hurry up, for God's sake!'

'He definitely won't listen to us if you talk to him like that. And we can't be the only ones there, you know.'

'That guy over there looks friendly. We'll ask him.'

'You're not being serious, you're not thinking straight. We can't just walk into a church and-'

'Look, why don't you want to get married?'

'What?'

'Why are you being so...obstinate?'

'Obstinate? I'm being realistic! We have to-'

'-get heaps of huge forms? These ones?

Luka?'

'Why do you have forms? Where did you get forms? What are you doing with forms?'

'Listen. Sit. Have a cigarette with me.'

sigh

'I went the other day and asked the woman behind the desk at the council-court-chamber-place-thing. She had this evil-looking green bird brooch on. She said we need to sign this, get a witness to sign it, get a priest if we need one, do something at the courthouse and return it to them.'

'It can't be that simple.'

'It is. It won't start being processed for about a month and we'll probably have to go to the courthouse a few times and get a few witnesses and review our economic situations and university commitments, but-'

'See? Then there's your parents to worry about, and your mother still thinks my dick's bigger than my brain.'

'Isn't it?'

'For God's sake-'

'Look, we can at least ask. Then we'll know what we have to do. Like I said, Father Marko adores me, and he'll trust me on this. He'll trust me on you. And you should too. I wouldn't have even gone to the evil council bird woman if I wasn't sure this wouldn't work for both of us. Aren't you sure it'll work?'

'I am, I really am, but-'

'I know we're young. But we've been going out for the best part of four years. My parents dated for about ten months before they got married, and they've been together almost twenty years. And my mother was younger than me.'

'I know, but-'

'Haven't we already talked about this? We said at Easter, another year and we'll get married.'

'That was-'

'-five months ago. Close enough. University won't matter, we've only got another month until exams, and then more than two months off. Enough time to go to Rome.'

'What about-'

'I've got money saved, plus next week I'm getting more hours at the library, and you're working at Luigi's-who, by the way, wants you to meet his sister. I told him no. And we don't have to buy a house or anything, since we're living on campus.'

sigh 'Okay, all right. Come on, we'll ask your priest. And by the way, I never said no to this, so stop trying to convince me. I made my mind up years ago.'

'Me too.

...Luka?'

'What?'

'What if he says he'll do it? What are we going to say? We can't back out once we've booked a priest. And I'll need to find a dress, and a caterer-'

'Luigi's. He'll do it free.'

'How do you know?'

'Asked last week.'

I apologise for the sappy ending but if I didn't end it there, it would have gone on for hours and would have started to become irrelevant. Next chapter probably won't be all hearts and flowers and little deer chasing butterflies in a field of daisies, so don't be put off. Do review, s'il vous plait, I won't be able to work on the crap if you don't-and isn't that a scary thought? Oh, and the last chapter of In Care of Thee will be up soon. See you soon. -RT