Union-ville Circus

A Story by SJ

A take on weddings and unions and their craziness from the point of view of the wedding venue.

All everyone wants is a little love and lots of attention, or the other way around. Whichever way you spin it, the love and attention part is what people love. Whether it’s genuine or otherwise is a whole other concern for a whole other set of people. It is in our human nature to want that which we believe we are entitled to, regardless of how we get it.

That being said…picture this, a beautiful summer day, with the right amount of a summer breeze wafting it’s way through the grounds. These very grounds currently are the venue for someone’s biggest dream come true…their wedding. Of course, the grounds, the ‘Royal Union Grounds’ in itself was something that was the talk of the town, the choice battle between quite a few couples and wedding planners…if only the original designers of the grounds knew what the future held for their masterpiece, perhaps they would’ve considered creating a few more. But then what do the grounds know right? They’re just there to host an auspicious event that signifies a union between two souls, where two paths intersect and merge to become one…there really is nothing greater than the story of human connection. How one came across another, fell madly in love and knew their love to be the greatest, without any of this star-crossed lovers business, or any of the bitter, tragic and unfulfilling ends to their tales of love and dedication. As if the movies haven’t over exploited those story-lines enough, we don’t need to constantly witness those over dramatic scenarios in real-life.

On an official note, welcome to the ‘Royal Union Grounds,’ the grounds do not appreciate being ignored for too long. This is the very venue that launched many a blossoming relationship into the far reaches of happiness, peace, bliss, love and eternal harmony and all the idealism that follows along. Of course these grounds had no idea how many of their blissful unions wound up staying successful or, how many hit a snag and collapsed in on itself like a house of cards. Good thing they don’t have to witness the ugly court room dramas, alimony or settlements hurled back and forth. Nor do they know if the weddings are a gold digger’s paradise or a resonating and radiant symbol of love, hope and diabetes inducing sweet virtues. What it did know, was the number of times the lawnmower made it’s appearance to keep those blades of grass looking even, lush and every photographer’s contrast come true. What it also did know was that today, was another one of those powerful union symbolizing events, and what it thankfully did not know were the players involved….or else those very grounds could have prepared for some live action of a different nature and feature. A beast that needed a beast-master of another kind to tame it…

So this is how that one story, that sets all stories apart, goes…That one fine, bright, summery day of perfection, suddenly discovered the meaning of imperfection and what it meant to be host to a comedy of errors and theatrics of the finest sort. For the first time in it’s fine and prestigious history, it was blessed and cursed with a ‘Runaway Bride.’ Well in the grounds defense, it had no idea what game was being played nor the backup plans hatched around said game. And in the Bride’s defense, love ain’t blind if you know how to train and fine tune it’s vision problem…Besides, what’s love without indulgence, riches, an insurance policy and if you’re taking the major leap, a pre-nup? Just a fool’s ideal…

So who was to blame for the end result of this wedding? Why the bleeding economy and the stock market of course! Now if Richard, the distant rich and instantly poor groom had bothered to have his finances in check and, were watching his shares and investments, perhaps the heir of a fortune now straying unto the path of misfortune, could have avoided the biggest fiasco in his young, tender life. And, in addition to all those expenses that constituted his fancy wedding and reception he wouldn’t have had to worry about paying off the stables for the insurance cover they had on file for any horse potentially stolen …followed by being absolutely stuck and unable to do anything about the fancy automobile he recently procured for his bride-to-be. If only Richy Rich had used the right organ to make his decision, perhaps he would have still been rich and not robbed off of his riches and become Rejected/Repugnant/Ripped-off/Regrettable Richard. But then again, credit must be given to Sly Sally for playing a well played match-making, heart binding, soul-lifting game, while keeping eyes on tallies of Richard’s assets, investments and net worth.

But fortune had it’s fill with Richard, and so decided to empty out his till while slamming him with many a bill. But good ol’ Sly Sally, caught a whiff of fortune’s fading scent, and the morning of their great big union, before the anvil sealing Richard’s fortune free future dropped, she conjured a tale of woe. A tale of duty towards love, towards morality and principle, and claimed her heart belonged to him no more. And so with a flourish, she grabbed up bunches of her wedding gown, and hurtled back away from the aisle, abandoning her veil and the oh so splendid train, trailing her gown, and trampling the Royal Union Ground’s’ lush and lavish green grass.

The crowd stood standing, mouths agape, wide awake from all the excitement of a broken wedding, buzzing phones, wailing children, a gobsmacked groom and a runaway bride. The groundskeeper stood staring, scratching his head in wonder, for never in his life had he ever seen a sight like this before wherefore the ground had been trampled like a battle-field instead of being a site and sight of grace, happiness and bliss. A first of it’s kind to happen here on these sacred grounds, he thought to himself…and then lamented and chided the ways of the current world and it’s lack of values and morals, and with a shake of his head in disapproval he was off to clean up the mess left behind by the human circus.