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him—he’ll
     want to take it off as soon as they get back from the church for something more comfortable, like his ripped T-shirt.
    Materena isn’t fussy about her wedding dress, as long as it’s new.
    Materena is getting excited. . . .

The Man Loana Was Supposed to Marry
    S o excited she can’t sleep. She knows it’s a bit silly to get excited about Pito’s drunken marriage proposal, but she’s thinking
     that perhaps he really meant it, because some people need beer in them to dare talk about serious matters. What about that
     dream she had yesterday? Materena is now trying to analyze it. She was getting married to the man in the movie and Pito barged
     into the church on a horse and rescued her!
    Materena kisses Pito on the neck and presses her body against his. Usually when she does this and he’s asleep, he wakes up
     and jumps on her. But he’s drunk, so he just stays still like a statue.
    Materena thinks about what her mother would say if she announced that she was getting married.
    Loana might say, “About time that Pito decided to marry you, after all you’ve done for him.”
    Or, “Are you sure you want to marry Pito now? You don’t want to wait until you two are older?”
    Or, “
Oish,
what is a marriage worth?”
    Or even, “I’ve never told you that the day of your marriage would be the happiest day of your life!”
    Loana has told Materena often about a marriage proposal she received when she was seventeen years old. The young man’s name
     was Auguste.
    It was only a few months ago that Loana told Materena how she had seen Auguste for the very first time since she refused his
     marriage proposal. Loana instantly recognized him. He was tall and lean, but the hair was gray.
    He was walking past the post office and Loana said she was about to call out, “Eh, Auguste, are you fine?” but she changed
     her mind at the last second.
    What do you say to a man who tried to commit suicide for you thirty-five years ago?
    So, Loana said, she just watched Auguste walk on, a well-dressed man carrying a briefcase—a man of business, or a professor,
     perhaps. And Loana felt strange. This is the story of the marriage proposal Loana got from Auguste.
    After her mother died, Loana went to live with a distant auntie and her Irish husband. The auntie and her husband were devoted
     churchgoers. Well, Auntie was the devoted churchgoer and her husband had to follow her or Auntie would get into a bad mood
     with him.
    They went to Mass at Sainte Thérèse, and Auntie made Loana join the church choir because in her opinion Loana had a magnificent
     voice and a girl who sings for God is bound to catch a good husband—at the church. Auntie hadn’t met her husband at the church,
     but he was a good catch anyhow. She was fortunate.
    So Loana sang in the church choir every Sunday morning.
    One Sunday, Auguste and his family began to attend the Mass at Sainte Thérèse—they’d previously gone to the cathedral.
    Auguste fell in love with Loana at first sight. Every Sunday he would sit in the front row of the church and just admire her.
     Loana didn’t notice him, being too busy concentrating on the songs.
    One day, right after Mass, Auguste’s mother approached Loana’s auntie. She wanted a bit of information about Loana, and Auntie
     said, “Ah, my niece, she’s a very good girl. She goes to Mass every Sunday—she’s not the fooling-around kind of girl.” The
     two women spoke for a while and embraced each other good-bye like they knew each other well.
    The following Sunday, Auguste and Loana were formally introduced to each other.
    And for five Sundays, they did chitchat after the Mass.
    One day on the way home from church, Auntie, winking and giggling, said to Loana, “You caught a very good fish, girl.”
    Soon there was a marriage proposal, and the answer the auntie expected was, of course, a yes, because Auguste was from a very
     respectable family, with a great future ahead of him as a schoolteacher.