Chapter 21. The Wedding Saturday
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The next night, in the Tucson hall of worship of the Guru Maharaj Ji, Jan and Stitch were married. Among those in attendance were Greg and Lucia, Arthur and Lee, Fawn and Willie and Sandra, Bess, Stephen and Carol, dozens of premies (a premie was an initiated follower of Ji), and relatives of the bride and groom. One young man, a premie, played guitar and sang on the flower-strewn stage one step up from the floor of the hall; on the stage with him were three large pictures of Ji and his former secretary (the older woman whose recent marriage to the boy guru had factionalized the faithful) and sofas and easy chairs for Jan, Stitch, and their parents.
A week ago Willie and Fawn had attended a punk concert at Winterland in California. In one song the lead singer had chanted, "I want to hurt you, I want to hurt you, I want to hurt you," and had made eye-contact with Willie; Willie had not taken it as a personal threat but had felt that the man really did lust to hurt. He had left as the crowd enthusiastically joined in the chant; Fawn had stayed for the whole show and, later, said only, "They're punk," a form she and Willie both preferred punk to pop-devotional. Fawn fidgeted and, in response to a particularly fulsome expression of adoration, punched Sandra, who managed to stay silent but feared she would laugh if hit again.
The first speaker was Stitch's best man; he talked with professional ease about his master and the marvel of the love his master revealed. He had been a premie almost ten years, which meant that he had worshiped Ji more than half the master's life. He talked about his love for Stitch, about Stitch and Jan's love for each other, and about the love all three of them had for Maharaj Ji. A woman devotee, less self-assured, spoke next. The Guru, she said, was love, and asserted that knowing this made the premies one. Marriage was the same love, she said, but a new discovery of it.
Arthur watched the parents of the bride and groom. Stitch's father was physically big but on the stage looked small; he looked like he loved his son and his new daughter but was confused and hurt and trying not to cry; he would cry later, because it was all so strange. Arthur also watched Jan, impulsive and full of sorrow and hope; he thought she seemed scared and very happy, her hand in Stitch's. He remembered the first night they had made love, when she had sobbed for hours, and his heart went out to her and Stitch.
As the woman who was to officiate spoke from the stage in her gray robes the attentive premies responded with frequent laughter; they loved to laugh as they talked and heard about the way, the giver of the light and knowledge, the open path and opening of the heart, the bliss, the bliss, and the bliss. There was no question in this minister's heart by what power she pronounced Jan and Stitch husband and wife. The service ended with the singing of a hymn of two and twenty verses to Maharaj Ji; almost everyone sang, the visitors reading the hymn's words from the programs they had been given at the door. During the hymn, Fawn again punched Sandra; Arthur softly punched Lee once, himself (harder) once. No one heckled and cake and cookies were served.
When Arthur kissed Jan goodnight at the door a spark jumped between their lips.
"It's still there," she said so only he could hear.
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