If I was calm and cool, it was because this had happened to Marilyn and me, sort of. Maggie, who managed to do her own thing her entire life, even before that life started, decided she wanted to see the sights early. At eight in the evening, Marilyn announced we needed to call her parents to come and watch over the kids, because she was starting her contractions. Fifteen minutes later she announced, “Carl, call the emergency squad, we’re having this baby NOW!”
So I called the emergency squad, and then I called some friends in town and got somebody to watch Alison and Parker. The first three people to show up were the postmistress, the garbageman, and the bartender. After that, about another dozen people showed up to look up Marilyn’s skirt. Still, I was holding it together fairly well, right up to the point where one of the eager young EMT types said, “Don’t worry, Mister Buckman. We’ve never done this before, but we’ve all seen the movies!”
That was when I started worrying!
That was then. Now I smiled. “Hey, shit happens. You’re going to do fine. Listen, Joe and Harlan and Anna Lee and I went over to Toys R Us last night and picked you up a few things for the baby. Make sure you get them from us.”
He looked a little stunned. “Wow! Really? Thanks, thanks a lot!”
I shooed him back over to Tessa, now loaded on the gurney, with a blood pressure collar on her arm. He hovered around while they worked on her, with Anna Lee helping and Suzie watching. She came over and stood next to Marilyn and me, and I put my arm around her shoulder. “Still want to be a nurse?” I asked.
“You bet!” she gushed. I just laughed and kissed my baby sister on her cheek.
When they were ready to transport her, I led the way out the door and we simply asked everybody to clear the way. We followed them out the door, and waved farewell as Tusker and Tessa were loaded in the back. I stood there with my arm around Marilyn, as Anna Lee and Suzie came up, with Harlan and Joe right behind them. “You two did great,” I told Anna Lee and her assistant. “I don’t know how to thank you enough!”
“That was so cool!” exclaimed Suzie.
Anna Lee laughed at that, as Harlan hugged her from behind. “You still want to be a nurse?” she asked.
“Absolutely!”
I gave her another kiss on the cheek. “Go tell Mom and Dad about it. They’re going to be very proud of you, just like me.”
Suzie scampered off, looking just like the little girl she really was. I turned to Marilyn. “Well, this makes for a wedding we’ll never forget.”
“Oh my God! I can’t believe it!”
“At some point, we’re going to have to change and go over to the hospital and check on them before we go,” I mentioned.
That sort of surprised her. “What! Now?”
I wrapped my arms around her and said, “Maybe in a little while, but you know we should do this. They’re our friends. We’ll just leave early and go to the hospital before heading out to Syracuse. Did anybody find out where they were taking her?”
Anna Lee commented, “I think it was the driver, he said St. Luke’s. Where’s that? Is it any good?”
I just nodded, as Marilyn answered the question. Utica has two hospitals, St. Luke’s and Faxton, while Rome, to the west of us, has Rome Memorial. We were probably still closer to Utica. Any of them should be able to handle what seemed, at least to my eyes, to be a fairly normal birth.
“Let’s go in and make an announcement,” I said.
Marilyn’s eyes opened wide at that. “You can make the announcement! I have had more than enough excitement for one day!” I laughed at that and we walked back inside with an arm around each other.
The band had finished setting up, but had delayed getting into gear while all the hubbub was going on. Now I walked over to them and asked if they had a live mike. The band leader, the keyboard player, and I talked for a moment about the plans, and then he handed me a mike and flipped a switch on his mixing board. “You’re live,” he said.
I tapped the mike a couple of times and heard the thump through the speakers, and then walked out into the middle of the dance floor. “Hello, hello, can everybody hear me?” I asked.
“A little louder please?” came a voice from the back. I looked over at the keyboardist and he turned a knob.
“Is this better?” I could tell it was decidedly louder now, and got approval from the rear of the room. I motioned Marilyn over, and she came cautiously. I simply put my arm around her shoulder before talking.
“Okay, let me make the official announcement, then. In case anybody doesn’t know already, today is going to be a double celebration. Jim Tusk, the big red headed guy who was one of my ushers, and his girlfriend Tessa Harper, are having a baby. Tusker and Tessa are some of my oldest friends in the world, and this is their first. They hadn’t expected this to happen so suddenly, but hey, life happens. They’re going over to St. Luke’s right now. That’s what the ambulance was for.”
There was a murmur among the crowd, as much over the fact that Tusker and Tessa didn’t seem married as about anything else. I ignored it and moved along, “Now, I need to thank, again, the staff here at Trinkaus Manor for helping us get the ambulance in and letting us use the lounge.” That was total bullshit, but it couldn’t hurt. Maybe they wouldn’t charge Big Bob for the linen. “I also need to thank Anna Lee Buckminster. She’s the wife of my other usher, Harlan. Raise your hands, Anna Lee, Harlan.” Again, this was pretty much a waste, since they were the only black people in the entire crowd. “Anna Lee is an obstetrical nurse, so Tessa couldn’t have been in any better hands.”
“Finally I want to thank my little sister, Suzie Buckman…”
“Woohoo!” she called out, hopping up and waving her arms like the little extrovert she is.
I kept on, though I was laughing, “… for helping Anna Lee. Suzie’s planning on becoming a nurse someday herself. Great job, Suzie!”
There was a lot of applause from the Buckman side of the family.
“Now, it’s time to get back to the reception. The band is getting ready to start up, so everybody should be dancing and having some fun. At some point here, Marilyn and I are going to take off and go see our friends in the hospital, but even after we leave, keep the party going, use up all the booze, and make Big Bob go out and buy some more. I don’t want anybody to forget this wedding!” I motioned the keyboardist to kill the mike and then handed it back to him.
Big Bob and Harriet were two of the first people to come up to us. “You throw a hell of a party, Bob!” I told him.
“I guess so!” he answered with a grin. “Remind me not to have you at any more parties!” He turned to his daughter. “Having fun, sweetheart?”
Marilyn hugged me. “Yes!”
I called over to the band. “Father-daughter dance, now!”
The band immediately started playing, and the band leader announced an immediate father-daughter dance, which wasn’t quite on the schedule, but that was all blown to hell anyway. After that, I danced with my mother, then I danced with Harriet (like dancing with a drunken heifer, she had already had a few Manhattans) while Marilyn danced with my old man. I even managed to sneak in a dance with my wife! Finally we worked our way through a dollar dance, with Anna Lee and Tammy holding the bags for the money. I made sure I danced with both of them, as well.
At that point, I had one last dance with Marilyn, and then I dragged her off to the side. “It’s time that we got going,” I told her.
Marilyn pouted. “It’s too early!”
“They’re your friends just the same as they’re my friends. We need to go see them and then head over to Syracuse.”
She sighed. “I know. I just wish we could stay longer. You’re right.”