Muscling Through by JL Merrow Page B

Wagner.
    His sister heard him say that. She said that’s a surefire way of making sure we don’t reach twenty-six, but I think she was joking, ’cause Larry just laughed. I get along okay with his sister now. She got me off that Drunk and Disorderly charge no problem. She calls me Al, and I call her Ali, which always makes me smile, ’cause it sounds like alley and reminds me of when me and Larry first met.
    The ceremony was really special. We had it in this big old room in Larry’s college with shields on the walls and stained glass windows, so it was just like getting married in a church, really. We got dressed up all fancy like we was going to a college dinner, only even posher, with matching crimson waistcoats, ’cause that’s Larry’s college colours. My mum wore pink, ’cause she knows I like her in that, and the biggest heels I ever seen her in. She still only came up to my shoulder, though.
    Larry’s mum was wearing a really dark suit. It was navy, but it looked black, like she was going to a funeral. I told Larry that, and he gave her a look and said, “That’s my mother. Never misses a chance to make a point.”
    But just then, Mum came over, so I never got a chance to ask him what he meant. “Look who’s here, love,” Mum said, and I looked over by the door and there was my dad. He looked just like I remembered him, except lots older, and it was weird, ’cause I was taller than him now. He walked over to me and Larry, but he couldn’t seem to pick his feet up very high, and he walked really slow. He was leaning on the arm of a lady who was nearly as tall as him, which seemed strange ’cause he’d been with my mum, and she’s tiny.
    “Hello, Alan,” the lady said. “I’m your Auntie Sarah—Bill here’s my brother. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I found out he had a grown-up son!
    “’Ullo, Al,” Dad said. He smiled. It was just like I remembered, when he used to take me down the park to play football sometimes when he came to visit. “Oo’d ’ave thought it, eh? You getting married. To a bloke an’ all. I fort Sarah was ’aving me on when she tole me.” His voice sounded thick, like he’d just been to the dentist, and when he lifted a hand to put it on my shoulder, it was all shaky.
    “Bill’s got Parkinson’s,” Auntie Sarah said. “He lives with me now. Keeps him out of trouble, doesn’t it, love?”
    “’S right,” Dad said.
    “Let’s get you to a seat, love,” Auntie Sarah said, and she took Dad off to sit down. He looked tired. My chest felt all tight. I was so happy, I could’ve cried.
    Larry was holding on to my arm really tight, and he looked a bit like he needed a handkerchief too. “He looks a lot like you, doesn’t he?” Then he gave me a funny crooked smile. “You’ve even got the same nose.”
    I grinned. “If I’d’ve stayed being a bouncer a few more years, I might’ve had the ears to match too.”
    Larry made a face. “Just one more reason I’m glad you gave it up. Did he have the spider-web tattoo when you knew him?”
    I touched my neck. “Yeah.”
    Larry put his arms round me and hugged me. “Did I ever tell you, you’re a real softy at heart?”
    I smiled. “Yeah. But it’s all right as long as you don’t tell no one else.”
    We had to start the service then. I think the registrar was getting impatient.
    My sister Lauren’s little girl Chloe was the ring bearer. She looked really sweet in her pink satin dress. When we were halfway through the service, she pulled on my sleeve and asked me, “Uncle Al, why are you marrying a daddy and not a mummy?”
    I said, “’Cause I couldn’t find a mummy as pretty as you,” and Larry gave me a big smile. Then he put his finger to his lips and went “Shhh!” so we could get on with getting married.
    When we turned round to face everyone after we’d said our vows, Mum shouted out, “Give him a kiss!” So I bent down and Larry stood up on tiptoe and we kissed, but it