“I did not personally witness the events I’m about to tell you about, though I do know the people involved in them. It was one of them who told me this story. He is sometimes given to stretching the truth an inch or two, not in an ornery way, but to reward anyone who takes the time to listen. I do not believe, however, he strayed much from the facts in this particular story, because he surely would have made himself look a little better in the telling of it if he had…”

First Comes Marriage first appeared in Big Muddy: a Journal of the Mississippi River Valley. It’s available FREE at Smashwords.