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slapped the rest of the wedding expenses on my charge cards. Poor Perry had needed their help with the down payment and closing costs on his move-up house. Apparently he also needed them to pay off his home equity loan on the first house so the sale would go through. Tammy had wanted to make a career change and they had paid her tuition to become a personal trainer.
    My parents couldn’t have paid for my wedding. They had had to help my siblings out, they were such good children . I knew this because Momma and Daddy had told me so. Every time I called or visited. And besides, Tammy never wasted money on a big church wedding. Yeah, she always got her potential moneybag grooms drunk or high and eloped before they sobered up. Of course there would be a wedding reception after the deed was done, the bills no doubt footed by Momma and Daddy.
    And it had been Daddy there at the church, waiting to tell me I told you so . “Your groom took off for the Poconos without you. But he won’t be crying in the champagne glass bathtub. The best man and your sister Tammy are kissing him and making him all better.”
    Ouch, did that hurt. Daddy always did have a way of humiliating and embarrassing me, the way he told the truth as he interpreted it. So that was how my last great romance had ended. Considering how easily that scumbag had consoled himself, the wedding day traffic jam had probably been a fortunate twist of fate.
    I eyed the clock. Nine twenty-one p.m. I could be here for a while. So I cut the engine, unbuckled and reclined the seat.
    My eyes blinked in the darkness. Red taillights. Red sparkles. Beautiful red sparkles. Music. Another song by the Bee Gees, the brothers Gibb, “Technicolor Dreams”. They wrote and recorded it in 2001 but it was in the style of the big movie musicals of the thirties and forties, back when their dad was an orchestra leader and their mum a girl singer. I loved the clarinet solo. Just like the song I danced to with that guy in my dream. My recurring dream. Please recur.
    Please recur…please recur.
    ~♥~
    The car door opened.
    “ Hello, Cinderella.”
    I couldn’t control my smile. “Hey you, step right into my dream again.”
    “ Actually it’d work better if you stepped outa the car.”
    So I did. A valet climbed in and drove off. My man offered his arm and we strolled down the cobblestone boulevard.
    “ Gee, the stars are beautiful tonight. Hey, look up there. Can you see that really bright one?” Dream guy pointed.
    I tore my eyes away from his amazing-to-me, handsome face and followed his arm, gazing up. “Yes, I see it.”
    “ That’s Venus, the planet of love.” A smoky haze surrounded it.
    “ Look! A shooting star!” I jumped up and down and then silently launched into a wish. Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight. I wish to find my momma safe and sane. I wish peace in eternity for my daddy. I forgive him for his sins. He did not know that he was hurting me…all of us. He meant well, in his own weird way. I wish that my sister Tammy stops being so narcissistic and lives happily ever after. I wish that my brother Perry finds peace within himself and loses sufficient weight to get off his blood pressure medication and insulin. I wish that he also finds a life partner to adore him. I really, really wish that my brother and sister will put the past behind us, forget about all the childish rivalries and look at me as a friend. A grown-up woman, with my own interests and fascinating qualities to admire and respect. And oh, by the way, keeper of the stars, if it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to sell my novel and live happily ever after underneath the bedclothes with the dream man. Amen.
    My dream man said, “I’m going to transport you from Mercury to Mars, love.”
    All right, I’ll play along. “Why not Venus?”
    “ Too many women.”
    I winked at him. “Good, I’ll have you all for myself