April 21, 2013

43 of 65

Wedding

Just like a ghost you been a-hauntin’ my dreams
So I’ll propose on Halloween,
Love is kind of crazy with a spooky little girl like you.
— “Spooky” by Classics IV (1967)

October 31, 1979, was a chilly Wednesday with light snow. The weather was not bad enough to keep the little trick-or-treaters off the streets, but parents made sure they were bundled up. My friend Cathy had been in Ohio for the past week visiting her parents. I had been commissioned to stop by her condominium each day to feed her cat. On Halloween itself, I had the additional job of meeting her at the airport and taking her home. The previous day when I had come to look after the cat, I brought a dozen yellow roses and put them in a vase above the fireplace. I thought it would make the condo a little more welcoming.

I met her plane and as we were driving away, I put a Pentangle album into the tape player (this was a tape, not a CD or MP3; this was the old days). The first song was “Wedding Dress.” Being an incurable romantic, I began to explain first that the song was a traditional Appalachian ballad, and then how it marked a bit of a change from the British folk music that had distinguished the band’s early albums. The next track was “Omie Wise,” a traditional murder ballad, which Cathy said she did not wish to discuss. I turned the volume down and we changed the subject. A couple of hours later, no trick-or-treaters had come by, I was preparing to go home and we had decided to get married. Continue reading →