Honeymoon for Three by Alan Cook

and a metal screen
separated him from the front seat. The door slammed shut.
    ***
    Alfred looked approvingly at his reflection
in the mirror of the barber shop. He saw a different person. His
beard was gone; his hair was as short as Gary’s. If that’s the kind
of person Penny liked, that’s the kind of person he was going to
be.
    He thanked the barber and tipped him. He
walked out of the shop to the clothing store the barber had told
him about, determined to upgrade his wardrobe. It was only a few
doors away. Once inside, he quickly found two decent-looking,
long-sleeved sport shirts on sale. He held them against his body in
front of a mirror, not wanting to take the time to try them on.
Then he found a pair of washable pants in his size.
    The only problem was that his body didn’t
look like Gary’s. He had this potbelly, and he was at least six
inches shorter than Gary. Not to mention his outie bellybutton. He
hoped Penny would come to her senses and leave Gary. A nice girl
like her wouldn’t want to be associated with a jailbird. He would
show her that external looks were superficial.
    Alfred had watched the drama unfold from his
parked car. He retreated there after telling the story to the
receptionist at the chapel. He saw Gary being driven away in the
police car. Penny remained, alone and vulnerable, left at the altar
in her wedding dress. She looked as if she might cry. He had an
urge to confront her right then and there—to console her, to let
her know he cared about her.
    Something inside told him that would
backfire. Then she got into the VW and drove after the police car,
and the opportunity was gone. That’s when he knew he had to change
his appearance. Leaving his car parked where it was, he found the
barber shop by asking a clerk in a store.
    The barber had told him where the police
station was located. He carried his package of clothes back to the
car and drove to the police station. He parked a block away and put
on his new pants and one of his new shirts in the car. The
receptionist at the chapel wouldn’t recognize him now. He donned
dark glasses to complete the transformation.
    Alfred walked to the police station. In its
parking lot he saw the Volkswagen. He was glad and sad at the same
time. Glad because he knew where Penny was. Sad because she hadn’t
left that jailbird yet. He took up a position across the street
from the police station to await developments.
    ***
    Penny had never been inside a police station
before. She didn’t like it. Most of the people who came in looked
like losers. They had the haunted appearance of victims. Victims of
crime, victims of being associated with criminals, either by blood
or romantically, which was worse because they were in the
relationship by choice.
    She sat on a wooden bench, conspicuous in
her wedding dress, waiting for information. She had been told
nothing. The officers on duty would tell her only that Gary was
being questioned. About what? Had he not told her everything? Was
there a dark secret lurking in his past? It was hard to believe,
and yet she supposed it was possible. She put her head in her
hands.
    “You look like you got a problem,
honey.”
    Penny lifted her head and saw the woman who
had sat down beside her. She was double the size of Penny and wore
a black dress the same color she was. She looked like the mammy
that Penny’s grandfather had had, at least based on how he had
described her.
    “You don’t belong here, neither,” the woman
continued. “Wearing that fancy white dress and all.”
    “I’m supposed to get married today.” Penny’s
voice faltered.
    “That do looking like a wedding dress. What
happened, your man get busted?”
    “He’s being questioned, but I don’t know
about what.” She wanted to place her head against this woman’s
ample bosom, be enveloped in her huge arms, and make the world go
away.
    “Well, one of two things is going to happen.
Either way, it’s for the best. Either he’s innocent or