She Marry Ghosts

Uperi slipped from her hut at dawn.

No one had arrived yet for her wedding, but that was ex-pected. The rest of the village was sleeping, but she had been up since moonrise. Being sisterless and motherless, she had to dress for her wedding herself. The bridal jewelry of shells and precious stones sang low on her neck, her waist, her arms. Loose golden chains hung from her forehead, dipping into a low-slung V down the bridge of her nose. The ceremonial paints of white and black cut sharp, hard Vs down her arms, her ribs, and the sides of her legs. Too bad there will be no husband to untangle me, she thought ruefully as she twisted her fingers around the chains and ribbons. With a deep, conceding sigh, Uperi knelt by the huge fire pit her neighbors had dug the day before. She rearranged her trappings on her person, and was still.

She heard Apo's grunting long before she saw him. As was wedding tradition, he had slaughtered her best bull in the fields. Several men helped him drag it through the village to her tent.