A few days ago, I went to a wedding for Liem, whom I hardly know, and his fiancee, whom I don’t really know at all, save for one encounter at some Korean restaurant where at the time I was unaware even that she was present and I acted like some sort of hooligan, which probably wasn’t the best first impression. I wasn’t too excited about the whole thing. And I thought there would be girls my age there, but they were all old raisins, because Liem is a lot older than I thought. Anyhow, it took place in New York, not New York City like I had assumed, though that should have been obvious since having a wedding in NYC would be akin to hosting a party in a rat-infested sewer. No, it instead took place in some backwoods part of New York—everywhere is backwoods in New York since NYC is the only place that seems to matter—in some fancy-looking building filled with expressionless employees clad in smoothed out black suits, overlooking a scenic mountain range and deep, rolling green hills.
It was a six hour drive to Pennsylvania, or so I’m told; I slept through most of it. I’d brought a few things to keep me entertained, my Switch, a 3DS, and a book on writing, but all of them gave me a dull headache that ate away at my brain until I felt sick to even think about using them. After I regained consciousness, we arrived in the middle of nowhere, a forest filled with giant trees looming overhead, pitch black against the dark blue sky, and we drove around a winding road that wove in and out of the sycamores or maples or willows or whatever they were. It was too dark to tell, and you couldn’t see further than fifteen meters into the thicket of the woods, as it was shrouded in a cloudy black, and anything otherwise was unclear and tinted with dark blue. Our lodging was a cabin just in front of the forest, quiet and assuming against the houses around it which shone with light and laughter from within. The lights were out, we exited the van and went over to the side door where my dad struggled with the digital lock until Vien somehow got it open. A real cabin it was; inside there was hardly a thing close to modernity other than the occasional view of a TV or an electronically controlled AC, all of which stuck out like a sore thumb against the otherwise run-down, rustic feel of the place. The hallways and the rooms and even the ceiling felt too close together, as if they’d been compressed for the sake of using less materials. The bedrooms were small, empty, and lifeless, only a place to sleep in and nothing more. There was a closet in the upstairs bedroom, it was hot and stifling inside, tight enough to trigger even slight claustrophobia, and a singular lightbulb dangled from the ceiling with a little pull switch dangling alongside it. The whole place smelled old, if it’s possible to smell old, and the oldness of it made me think of pioneer life a few centuries back, though I doubt the cabin was built around then.
The game room situated out back near the bonfire offered a few more amenities: a poker table, a foosball table, some couches and a large TV. It was all very nice until we left the door open one too many times and the whole room became a nest for every sort of vile mosquito and moth and whatnot. Mindlessly drawn to the light, they rushed in whenever the door wasn’t immediately shut, and some were big enough to entirely cover my hand. I employed Bien to exterminate a few, but it soon became clear that the room had been taken over.
At some point Thuclam and Thucquyen and their dad showed up. More importantly, they brought towels, which the ancient cabin lacked for some reason, despite providing more than enough blankets for us all. Still, it was nearing midnight by the time they showed up, and I was in no mood for showering in what would probably be a rundown bathroom. Most of my time was spent in the game room. Vien seemed to really like the foosball table even though she was god awful at it just like every other game. I enjoyed it as well, but the little kids didn’t offer much in the way of competition, so I moved on to playing poker, which also isn’t very fun with little kids, and especially not fun using digital chips. In the end, only Bien and I remained inside, and at around one in the morning, the two of us fell asleep.
The next morning I was woken up by my dad, and then I fell back asleep. Then Bien came to wake me up, and I fell back asleep again. Finally, I was awoken to see that everyone was about to leave for New York, and I was feeling a little irritated that I wasn’t alerted to take a shower and pack before we left. All of us piled back into the two cars and went on a three hour trip to New York. I slept through that again. Eventually we arrived in a quaint little neighborhood somewhere in nowhere. There, I took a shower and got all dressed up for the wedding in a silly gray vest. Bien’s pants were too long, and Khoi’s suit looked a little silly; it was checkered and seemed like something that should have only been worn in the 1920s. The only thing that was missing was a tweed cap and a wooden cane. Vien had this hideous pink bow in her hair which probably would have been more appropriate for a Jojo Siwa concert or something. Everyone else looked normal, and once again, when the time rolled around, we crammed into the van and took an hour long trip to the wedding venue, which I didn’t sleep through this time, and instead was forced to feel the weight of that full hour upon my shoulders as my brain melted out of my skull and I dully waited for us to arrive.
When we did show up, our van was earlier than the other car by about ten minutes. We had also shown up early and so we headed inside the venue which I’ve already described in the first paragraph. There was a long windowed corridor lined with tables covered in white sheets, and further out the corridor was a door leading out to the overlook where the wedding would take place. It was as you might expect, lines of chairs, a long carpet, and a little arch in the front, all in front of the picturesque view. One of the employees shooed us out, which was pretty awkward. Apparently, they had big plans and we were escorted to the entrance where a few other families were waiting. We didn’t interact with them, they didn’t acknowledge our presence, and the whole wedding was feeling pretty awkward.
It started to rain when the ceremony began a light rain came in. Gray clouds crept from above and there was thunder in the distance; most of the families hung back under the cover of the trees, but of course I’m made of tougher stuff and our family sat down in the wet and dirt-riddled seats which stained my pants. Liem’s friend or whoever he might be gave a speech which was the typical praising of his character and some other people did the same, and eventually Liem and his now wife exchanged vows and were married.
The end