Middle Names

Traffic was moderate, so their mile and a quarter ride took less than ten minutes. Dozens of people honked and waved at them. After a minute, Tovala started smiling and waving back. He turned right on Harbor Drive and Tovala was forced to divide her attention between the well-wishers and the harbor on their left, as they passed a huge white, blue and gold cruise ship, a large sailing ship, a long pier with other boats tied up, a couple of boats moored beside the road, and some more boats anchored farther out. They passed a wide beige building with a six-story tower in the middle on their right, made a left turn into a narrow parking lot, then another left.

"There are motorcycle parking spaces around here somewhere, there have to be," he muttered, scanning to both sides as they rolled along slowly. Tovala was still captivated by her view of the waterfront.

He stopped abruptly. "Ah-HAH!"

There they were; three motorcycle spaces, sandwiched between a red pickup truck and a white SUV, with a racer-type bike sitting in the first one. He shut off the engine, backed into the next space and parked. Tovala got herself off the machine without trouble, he joined her, and in a minute they both had their helmets off and banished to wherever things went when she 'disappeared' them. She restored her tiara, and a modified veil which did not extend over her face.

They were a long way from the nearest crosswalk, so they waited for a lull in the traffic, jogged across the southbound lanes, and waited again on the median until they were clear to cross the northbound lanes. Tovala set a fast pace, shoes and all, as if she had a lot of experience wearing high heels.

"This way." He turned right and they started down the sidewalk. After a few steps a loud roaring noise came from behind them.

She turned and looked back, but didn't see what was causing it. "What's that?"

He explained, "A plane taking off from the airport. The end of the runway is about half a mile north of here."

"Oooh, I want to see the airport!"

"Sure, when we're done here, and at the D.A.'s office." The noise faded as he waited, watching the sky… "There it is!" He pointed to a shining jetliner rising in a steep climb, diminished with distance, but still an imposing sight.

"Ohhh…" She watched it raptly for a long minute before they resumed their walk and turned left onto a large square of pavement. A round pedestal in a wide tiled basin supported a larger-than-life statue of a woman holding a jar on her shoulder. Water squirted into the basin in several places A strong smell of chlorine hung in the air. "What's that?"

"A fountain. It's for decoration."

She examined it curiously as they passed. More walking brought them up a long sidewalk to join a line waiting at the front doors, including another woman in a wedding dress. They heard a new noise, this one a sort of buzzing whine, from overhead and eastward. The plane came into view above the County Administration building, low and close, seeming almost to float through the air until it disappeared behind another row of buildings off to their left.

"Boeing seven-thirty-seven, landing at the airport." he informed her. She smiled and nodded.

People were passed through the security checkpoint, one by one. A distressing thought struck him. "Geez, I hope you don't set off the metal detector."

"Metal detector?"

He pointed. "That thing everybody has to walk through, that looks like an empty door frame. It uses low-frequency magnetic fields to, well, detect metal. Anything conductive, actually. The magnetic field induces electric currents in conductive materials near the coil, the interaction disturbs the field, and the control circuits pick up the fluctuations and set off an alarm."

"I'm kind of worried, because you must have, um, devices, inside you. Whatever generates your force shield, and the anti-gravity, and who knows what else. I just hope that thing doesn't pick them up."

It was their turn. Grumbling with irritation, Dan unloaded his cell phone, wallet, keys, watch, spare change, belt, and, reluctantly, his brand-new wedding ring into a shallow plastic box. Tovala placed her tiara and wedding ring in the next one, but her necklace presented a problem. It had been formed in a continuous loop, with no provision for opening and removing it. She pondered for a second, touched it and it disappeared.

As their belongings were fed into the X-ray machine, Dan stepped through the metal detector. It beeped, of course. A guard told him, "Lift up your pant legs."

He did, showing the cause: brass rings on both sides of each boot. "Nothing in there but my feet."

The guard looked inside both boots, checking for knives, guns, bombs or implements of destruction, found none, and waved him onward.

Tovala followed him through the detector and it beeped again.

"Let me see your shoes, Ma'am."

With a nervous little smile, she raised her skirt far enough to give a good view. He examined them — for what, she had no idea, as there was no room to hide anything in those shoes — and allowed her to proceed. Their boxes were just emerging from the X-ray machine.

"We set off the metal detector, didn't we? Why did he only look at our shoes?" she wanted to know.

He pointed. "See that strip down the side? It's a row of LEDs that show where it detects metal. Both of us must have only lit up a few, at the bottom."

They spent a minute putting everything back where it belonged, then crossed the lobby. Dan read a building directory while they waited for the elevator. "We want the second floor."

DING. Doors opened, and the small crowd shuffled inside. Somebody pushed 2, somebody else pushed 3. The doors closed. Tovala gripped his hand tightly when she felt the elevator move, relaxed again when it stopped and the doors opened. They moved out with several people, including the other woman in a wedding dress, leaving a few headed to higher floors.

He looked around. "This way."

They arrived in due course at the County Clerk's office. Dan spent a few minutes reading signs and notices, then pulled a form out of a tray and led her to a table standing against the wall.

"We have to fill this out, as much as we can, anyway. My part will be easy. Yours…not so easy." He got out his pen and started writing.

She watched, curious. "Does that say, Grant?"

"Yeah, that's my middle name. Mom picked my first name, and Dad picked that one. He's a bit of a history nut, with a particular interest in the Civil War, so he named me after Ulysses S. Grant, a famous general from a hundred and sixty years ago, and later our eighteenth President." He chuckled. "I'm just glad he didn't go with Ulysses. Or Hiram!"

The pen skritched on.

"Hokay, that's done for me. Now you…check the 'Bride' box…block twelve-A, first name, Tovala…and that's all we really know." He smiled at her. "Would you like a middle name?"

"People will expect me to have one, won't they?"

He nodded. "Most will. If you don't, we'll be constantly explaining why not."

Her face got a look of concentration. "I think I can find one. There are network signals here. Connecting…"

She stood still for a minute, with a distant look on her face. Presently she came back and announced, "I think I found one. How does 'Maureen' sound to you?"

"Tovala Maureen Evans. Sounds good. Is that the name you want?"

"I can't find one I like better."

"Okay, then, twelve-B, middle name, Maureen. Twelve-C, last name, I'm just going to leave that one blank. Date of birth, don't know, leave that for later. State or country, don't know that either. There's no space for planet or star system. This application form is inadequate."

They both laughed.

"Number of previous marriages, I'm going to put 'NONE' even though we're not sure. Address…mine is the only one you've got. Besides the Balboa Sinkhole, that is. We'll use mine."

"Here's the part where they'd just tell us to get lost. Father's full name, unknown, state or country of birth, unknown, mother's name and place of birth, also unknown. I hope they listen to the Mayor."

He moved to the next section. "WE, THE UNDERSIGNED DECLARE UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY, yada yada yada…huh. INFORMATION REQUIRED BY FAMILY CODE SECTION 358…now what is that?"

Tovala looked distant again. "The State Department of Public Health shall prepare and publish a brochure…" She trailed off, then reported, "Those brochures should be in this office."

He squeezed her hand. "I'll go find one."

He was back in a minute. "This has to be it."

Dan opened it and they read it together. He considered each section.

"Part One, genetic defects. We're not even from the same planet. No way we could be related close enough for inbreeding to be an issue."

Part Two, AIDS. No. I even got tested a few years ago, one of my ex-girlfriends insisted. They found nothing."

"Part Three, domestic violence." He gave her a quirky grin. "Are you going to abuse me?"

She returned a sweet smile. "What kind of abuse did you have in mind?"

They both laughed.

He got back on track. "Okay, so, that's a big NO on the domestic abuse. Part Four, changing a name. Doesn't apply; we don't know your last name anyway. And…that's about all. We've read it."

He returned to the application form. "So, I sign here…my phone number…oh, they want your phone number. We'll just put mine down, for now."

He slid the paper in front of her and held out the pen. "And now, you sign there, in block 24. Um, do you know how to sign your name?"

"I think so." She wielded the pen slowly and carefully, nibbling her lip, then handed it back.

He reclaimed the form and checked it. She had done a creditable job of printing 'Tovala Maureen Evans' in block 24.

"Ohww, you haven't learned cursive script yet. We—" He stopped, then looked determined. "That's your name, and you wrote it. We'll just have to make them accept it."

He read the last section. "New names, if any. I'll just put down our same names again…"

"Right, then, what we want is…" He flipped it over and read the instructions, then flipped it back. "…License and Certificate of Marriage, V-S-one-one-seven." He checked the first box, looked it over one more time, and put the pen away.

"Done. We hand it in…over there." They did, then found a pair of empty seats. "And now, we wait."

She looked around the room half-full of bored people. "How long?"

"You never know. Could be ten minutes; could be two hours. You might as well start getting used to it; any time we deal with the government we're going to spend a lot of time sitting around. They don't call 'em waiting rooms for nothing."

She smiled and reached out to him, their hands touched, and clasped together. He fished out his phone. "At least there's something we can do in the meantime."

She watched him fiddle with it, and hold it up to his ear.

He heard three ringbacks, a click, and, "Hello?"

"Hi, Mom."

"Daniel?"

"Yup, it's me. Is Dad there, too?"

"No, he's at work today. Why?"

"Oh. Well, I've got something to tell you, and, I want you to hear it from me before you see it on the news. You sitting down?"

There was a longish pause, then, in a voice heavy with suspicion, "Yes…?"

"I just got married."

Now she sounded a little stunned. "You did? Uhmmm…congratulations. I'm happy to hear it. But, isn't this kind of sudden? And I thought you and Marjorie broke up."

"We did. This is somebody new." He chuckled. "Really new."

"I didn't know you were dating anyone. Or planning to get married."

"I didn't know I was getting married either, and I couldn't tell anybody. I couldn't take the chance that somebody would stop us." He chuckled. "Now everybody knows. Or will, before long."

"Who is she? How long have you been seeing her?"

He braced himself for her reaction. "Since yesterday."

Mrs. Evans wasn't one to explode, but her voice had a definite edge. "You married a girl you just met yesterday."

"It sounds really wrong when you say it like that, but, we've got our reasons. If we didn't get married this morning, we'd never see each other again. Neither one of us wants that."

"Why? What was it, some sort of a shotgun wedding? What have you been up to?"

"No, no, nothing like that!" There was nothing to do but just say it. "You see, the thing is, she, um, she's, not from this planet. You know all those crazy books I read? We're living in one, right now. And, nobody knows how it's going to end."

Silence. "Mom?"

"You're telling me you married an alien from outer space." Her voice held a chill that could have come from outer space. Intergalactic outer space. "Did I miss something? I thought April Fools was last month."

"No, no, she's not an alien, she's completely human, she's just…she lived somewhere else, until something sent her here yesterday morning. She doesn't know where she came from, or how. She can't remember anything."

Another long silence was followed by Mrs. Evans muttering to herself, "The Good Lord sets us trials, but none we can't overcome, with His help."

Yeah, Mom, whatever, he thought.

A sigh emerged from the phone. "You're not making this up. You believe it's the truth."

"It's my best understanding based on the facts we have. The few facts. I've seen enough evidence to convince me that she can't be from the world we know, so, she has to be from a world we don't know. That could be some metaphorical world, a part of our own that we've never been aware of, but with modern satellites and billions of cell phone cameras everywhere, that's pretty much impossible."

"I'm certain it's literal. We know there are a lot of planets out there. We've found thousands, just in the last few years. Based on that sample, we can deduce that there could be more than a trillion planets in our galaxy. Some of those have got to be suitable for human life."

"How there could actually be humans living on them I don't know, but her presence here tells me they have to exist, somewhere."

Her voice sounded calmer. "Daniel, are you sure about this marriage?"

"Am I sure about what's going to happen, or where our lives are going to go? Not in the least. But I am sure of one thing. If we didn't get married this morning, the government would never let me see her again."

He took a deep breath. "Out of all the courses of action available to me, this is the one I choose. The one we both choose. I want our marriage to last. If not, it will hurt. A lot. But I'd rather take that risk than spend the rest of my life wondering, what if? What future did I pass up?"

"So, after all this time, all those others, after one day you think she's the one?"

"I hope so. She's not like any woman I ever met before. She's just…she seems right, in so many ways. I don't know how else to put it."

"Is she a Christian?"

He let out a weary sigh. "No, Mom. She's not from our world. She's never even heard of our religions."

Long pause. "Where is she now?"

"She's sitting right here beside me. We're at the county clerk's office, waiting to get a marriage license."

"Do I get to meet her?"

"Of course. Here, Tovala, my mother wants to talk to you."

She took the phone. "Hello, Mrs. Evans. I'm, uh…my name is Tovala. Tovala Evans, now." She chuckled nervously. "I guess I'm Mrs. Evans too."

"Tovala? That's, a…unique name."

"Daniel and I made it up yesterday, because I can't remember the name I used to have."

"You really don't remember? Where you're from?"

"No. I don't even remember who I am. Or, used to be. It's just…not there."

"You don't have anybody? Any family at all?" she asked, concerned.

"If I do, they're not on this world, and I can't remember them either."

"How did you get here?"

"Have you heard about the Balboa Sinkhole, that appeared yesterday?"

"Yes. I was going to ask him about it, the next time we talked."

"The very first thing I remember is standing in the middle of that hole, in a big cloud of dust. That is where Daniel found me. He's made what he calls 'wild-ass guesses' about a teleporter machine, and some sort of accident, but those guesses are all we have."

"You're here to stay, then? You're not going back?"

"Back to where? And, I have no way to get there. Wherever 'there' is."

"Do you want to go back? If you could."

"How can I say, not knowing what I'd be going back to? We discussed this last night. Daniel thought people from…wherever I came from, might be looking for me. Maybe they are. Maybe somebody will find me, but how long would that take? We have no way to know. Maybe nobody will ever find me, or no one is looking for me. Maybe nobody even knows I'm missing. If I was in an accident, they might not be aware that I'm still alive."

She shook her head, forgetting for the moment that Mrs. Evans couldn't see her. "There are too many unknowns, and I can't foresee the future. All I can do is deal with the present. I can't put myself on hold in anticipation of events that may, or may not take place. This is my life now, and I mean to live it, rather than wait for a search party that might never come."

"How do you feel about my son?" Mrs. Evans challenged her.

"I feel…really good. He's been very nice to me, and helped me understand many things about your world. I'm…I think he is a truly wonderful man."

"I'm glad you feel that way." A chuckle sounded in her ear. "As long as that's not just shameless flattery."

"Not flattery, I'm just happy to be with Daniel. I don't know what would have happened to me if he hadn't found me. I think…he saved me."

That got her another chuckle. "Yes, he always likes to see himself as a White Knight. I just wish he could be a little more discerning about those damsels in distress."

"White—? Oh. I think I get the reference. Damsels, though?"

"Daniel hasn't had the best of luck with women. I don't know whether they find him, or he finds them, but somehow, something always seems to go wrong and they break up." She sighed. "I'm his mother. I don't like to think he's the reason, yet after a while I can't help but wonder. Now, all of a sudden he's married to you. Will this time be different? Are you going to stay with him, and make a life together?"

"That's what we both want, more than anything."

"I do hope it works out that way. He doesn't complain about it, but I know those breakups hurt him. I want him to be happy. You too, of course; he can't be happy if you're not."

"I am happy." She smiled at the man sitting beside her, and squeezed his hand. "But Daniel told me there is more we need to do. Get our marriage license, and find a way to work out some issues with the government. We're not…'out of the woods' yet, as you say on your world."

"Then I'll pray for you," the elder Mrs. Evans sounded determined. "You're part of the family now."

A wave of emotion swept over her, stopping her breath. Family? I have become part of…a family? I didn't think about that. I am connected to more people, through Daniel. His parents, and, are there others? How many others? There is so much I still don't know about…my husband. The man I'm going to stay with for…for as long as I can. I can't imagine my life without him.

She got her breathing unstuck. "Th-thank you, Mrs. Evans."

That raised a chuckle. "You don't need to be so formal with your mother-in-law. We'll get to know each other better, all in good time. If there's anything you need from me, just ask."

"I…I can't think of anything. I'm sure Daniel knows what has to be done."

"Well, you seem to have your head on straight, anyway."

"That is, a slang expression, isn't it? Does it mean something bad, or good?"

"Oh, it's good. It means I don't think your problems are of your own making."

"I'm afraid I don't understand."

"Some of those breakups were definitely not his fault." Another sigh issued from the phone. "No matter how hard he tries, he can't save someone from herself. He's found that out the hard way, a few times. When somebody's problems are the result of her own bad decisions, he can't help her unless she starts making better ones."

It was her turn to sigh. "I'm afraid I've made a few of those."

"We all do, dear. But have you made better ones?"

"Oh, yes."

"Then you've got your head on straight. Keep making the best choices you can and…be good to my son. He's been hurt enough."

"I will," she promised.

"I think you will, at that. Just so you know, he's more of a romantic than he'd ever admit. He wants that one True Love, but real life doesn't usually work that way. This might just work out, for both of you."

"I hope so."

"Would you give the phone back to Daniel? I want to make sure he's got his head on straight. Goodbye, Tovala. We'll talk again."

"Goodbye, Mrs. Evans." She passed him the phone. "Your mother wants to talk to you some more."

"Hey, Mom. So, what do you think?"

"I think I like her. Better than some of the others, anyway, so don't screw this up. You won't find another girl like her any time soon."

"Nobody's ever seen anyone like her. Would you believe she learned English in one day? She didn't know a single word when I met her yesterday, and within five minutes we were talking."

"That's…impressive, but how?"

"I think she's somehow mentally connected to a supercomputer so advanced it makes ours look as primitive as an abacus, running some sort of Universal Translator program. Last night she connected to the internet and downloaded about a hundred thousand English words and definitions. Today, she probably knows more English than I do."

"Uhmmm…okay. What about her language?"

"Gone, along with the rest of her past. She doesn't remember a word of it. We don't think there's any way to get any of it back, either. All she has is this life."

"And you."

"I'm doing everything I can for her. I just hope it's enough."

"So do I. If there's anything we can do to help, just say so."

"Nothing I can think of. You've got no influence with the government, so you can't make them leave her alone. That's what we need most right now."

"The government? I thought getting married took care of that."

"Only her…irregular arrival in the United States. Wait until you see us on the news. Tovala has got technology and weapons that have to be thousands of years more advanced than ours, and a force shield that can protect her from all of our weapons, even atomic bombs. The government is going to want to take those from her, and they'll go apeshit when they find out nothing they've got can kill her."

Her reply was disapproving. "There are better ways to express yourself, Daniel."

He made an amused grunt. "Yeah, but they're not as satisfying. Sometimes you have to just go for it and say what you mean."

"You think you're too big to spank, don't you?" They both laughed, then she grew somber. "All that anti-government talk is going to get the both of you in trouble one of these days."

"We've been through this, Mom. We need the government to do some things, but there's a whole lot of other things it shouldn't be doing. We should all be concerned."

"I know, I know, maybe you've got a point. But you really expect the government to come after her?"

"She's got something they want, and when they find out they can't take anything from her by force, they'll see her as a threat. Not only for what they're afraid she could do, but because they can't point guns at her and make her obey. That's why our next stop is the D.A.'s office. She melted a cop's gun and cut a police car in half, so, we have to make a deal to keep them from trying to throw her in jail."

"How could she cut…? Umm…never mind. Do you think you can?" She sounded worried.

"I hope so. I found out she can make diamonds out of charcoal, so we can get enough money to pay the damages in a week or so. If they want to tack on penalties, we'll pay those too. Within reason, anyway. Whatever it takes to keep her from getting charged with a crime."

"Then I'll be praying for you."

"Thanks, Mom." He knew she meant well.

"Well, I've got things to do, and I'm sure you do too. Congratulations again on your marriage, and I'm looking forward to meeting Tovala in person. Goodbye, Daniel."

"Bye, Mom." He shut off the phone, stuck it in his pocket, grinned at Tovala and squeezed her hand. "I think she's happy. Or will be, once she gets used to the idea. I did sort of spring it on her out of the blue."

"What about your father?"

He chuckled. "Mom will tell him. She'll tell everybody."

"Who is 'everybody'? How many people?"

Dan thought for a few seconds. "Well, there's Michelle — my sister — and her husband and kids, and my brother Abe, and the three grandparents still with us, and a few aunts and uncles and cousins on both sides, and their kids, sooo, about thirty-five people total. When we all manage to get together for a big event, we make quite the tribe. And now you're one of us."

She squeezed his hand again. "Oh."

"Hey, it's not so bad. You'll get used to them. Eventually."

They both laughed, then looked across the room. He added, "And now, we wait some more."

A minute later they overheard a surreptitious conversation a few seats away between two women stealing intense looks at them.

"It can't be."

"Sure looks like her."

"No way. She's already married! And the hair—"

"Could be a wig?"

"Why would she be here?"

By this time Tovala was regarding them curiously; they looked away, embarrassed.

"Are you talking about me?" She smiled disarmingly.

"Sorry, senora, disculpe…" Now the middle-aged woman beside them was embarrassed, too.

"No, there's no need to apologize, I'm just— I'd like to know what you were saying about me."

"Is nothing, they just silly muchachas," she said placatingly.

"Madre," the second one protested under her breath.

"Please," Tovala insisted, and waved her free hand at the room in general. "What else is there to do, but talk? If you want to know something about me, just ask."

That got a relieved look from the older woman, and shy smiles from both of the younger ones, who strongly resembled each other.

"We thought—" the closest one started.

"You thought," the other one interrupted.

"Okay, I thought, you, um, you look like Robin Meade. But, I guess you're not, are you?"

"Told you!" the second woman exclaimed. They both giggled nervously.

Dan and Tovala looked at each other, puzzled, then at the two.

"Who is Robin Meade?" Tovala asked.

"Uhh…Robin Meade? On CNN? She's famous!"

Dan grunted. "I believe that news should contain at least some truth, so, I don't watch CNN. I never heard of her."

They both gave him funny looks, as if he had just told them that he didn't know what a car was. She pulled out her phone and they hunched over it, murmuring to each other as she ran her fingers over the screen.

"There!" she said dramatically and held out the phone. It showed a smiling brown-haired woman wearing a low-cut blue-green dress, against a gray background. They both studied the image, then Dan looked back and forth between the phone and Tovala several times.

"She does look a lot like you," he allowed.

"See, I told ya!" the phone's owner said with smug satisfaction.

"Okay, maybe she looks like her, but she's not." her companion was equally smug.

"Definitely not," Dan told them, amused.

Tovala was still regarding the phone. "Robin Meade is considered quite beautiful, isn't she?"

The two women agreed emphatically.

Dan was more reserved. "She is, but I think you win."

That got him a sweet, somewhat bashful smile, and a quick change of subject.

"Are you here for a marriage license, too? Where's your husband?" Tovala wanted to know.

The woman with the phone answered. "Oh, we're not married yet. We have to get the license first. And, he's at work."

"What kind of work does he do?"

"Construction. And he's studying for a contractor's license. When he gets that, he can do more work on his own."

"Construction means, building houses, right?"

"And repairs, and roofs, and remodeling, and all sorts of stuff people need fixed in their houses. He stays pretty busy, most of the time."

"I see."

"What does your boyfriend do?" the other woman asked.

Tovala smiled sunnily. "He's my husband. Right now, he's taking the day off to get married, but, we haven't talked about his job. There wasn't time."

The woman started to say something else and the first one cut her off. "But— You're here to get a marriage license, right? How are you already married?"

The second one cut back in, giggling. "What, you just got back from Vegas? A midnight wedding by Reverend Elvis?"

"Uhhh…no?" Tovala replied dubiously. It would seem that Daniel wasn't the only person who said strange things from time to time. "We were married by the Mayor, thirty-eight minutes ago."

"Oh…" Neither of them had more of a reply than that until the first one said, "I love your gown. And your hair! How did you get that color?"

Tovala smiled. "Thank you. We spent a lot of time looking up dresses on the internet. My hair just is this color."

"No. Way." they said almost in unison, then plied her with more questions.

Dan half-listened and looked around the room again. He started to feel impatient after a few minutes, until it struck him that this was exactly what Tovala needed — ordinary social interaction with a variety of people. He kept quiet and let the the women talk.

Guadalupe was here with her mother to apply for a marriage license, with her younger sister Graciela tagging along. They didn't take her claim of being from someplace else seriously, and there were other things they wanted to talk about. The wedding would be at their church in June, and the sisters gushed on about a lot of details he didn't pay much attention to.

Tovala mostly smiled and listened, picking up this information about her new environment. She would probably have more questions for him later. He would try to answer them.

"Mr. and Mrs. Evans?" a woman's voice announced.

"That's us." Dan informed her, the sisters and Tovala. She wished them good luck with the wedding, stood and walked with him to the counter.

The announcer was a harried-looking middle-aged woman with brown hair, brown eyes, glasses and a disapproving expression. She took a seat behind the counter and informed them, "Your application is not complete."

Dan gave her his best apologetic smile. "I know, but it's as complete as we can make it. There's no way we can get the missing information, probably ever."

She turned the disapproving look on Tovala. "You don't even know your own birthday?"

Tovala shook her head. "I don't know anything about my past."

"Except your name?"

"Not even that. Daniel helped me make up my name yesterday. I picked out my middle name just a few minutes ago."

Her scowl grew deeper still. "You mean this is not your legal name?"

"It will have to be. It's the only name I've got."

"You're not making this easy," she grumbled.

"I'm sorry. It's not easy for me, either."

That got a more sympathetic grunt. "You're still going to need a date of birth."

"We'd have to make it up," Dan warned her.

"That would be better than nothing. As long as it makes sense."

He looked at Tovala. "I guess…we could just pick a date at random. What time of year do you want your birthday?"

She nibbled her lip thoughtfully. "Hmmmm. So far, there are only two days that have any significance for me. Today is our wedding day, so maybe yesterday should be my birthday?" She giggled. "Does that make you my first birthday present?"

He laughed with her and got out his pen. "All right, that makes sense. Can I have the form back for a minute? …okay, so, I'll make it May twentieth…nineteen-ninety. That means you're twenty-eight years old. Is that okay? You look like you could be twenty-eight, give or take."

"That sounds fine to me."

He handed the application back. "Is that enough, or do we need to make up names for her parents? We could give it a go, but I don't think there's much point."

The clerk shook her head. "That won't be necessary. We can make do with this."

He smiled, relieved. "That's great. Did, uh, the Mayor call? He said he would."

That got both of them a pained look. "I just got off the phone. I was going to reject this but he was very insistent, that you're already married, and a license will be issued without delay."

"Thank you. We really need that done."

Tovala bestowed a positively angelic smile on the clerk. "Yes, thank you. We apologize for putting you to so much trouble, but this marriage license is extremely important for us. I can't hope to remain free without it."

"You don't know where you were born, either…" she said absently, checking their application again.

"I'm sorry, I don't."

She sighed. "Oh, well. I guess it can't be helped." She stood up. "Wait here." She retreated into the office area.

He grinned at Tovala. "And so, we wait some more."

She returned it. "They don't call them waiting rooms for nothing?"

They both laughed. After a minute he realized something. "We'll both have to sign the license. I should show you how. I need a piece of paper…"

He spotted a blue recycling wastebasket, crossed the room, rummaged through it, found a sheet of paper with a big enough blank space and brought it back. He got out his pen.

"There's another form of the alphabet, called cursive script. I used it to sign my name on the application, like this." He wrote his name with more care than usual. "Now, I have trouble with the capital forms of some letters. G in particular looks funky and is sort of hard to get right, so I just use the printed forms of D, G and E. It's not right or wrong, it's just the way I prefer."

He wrote again. "That's your name. The first one is with what are considered the proper cursive capital letters, and the second one is with printed caps. You can write it either way, or mix them if you want."

He held out the pen, and she took it. After a bit of consideration, she wrote 'Tovala Maureen Evans' using three cursive capitals. "Like this?"

"That's great," he said, smiling, then added, just a bit petulantly, "But how is your penmanship better than mine, on your first. Try? It ain't fair, is what it is." Her writing was clear, even and just plain excellent. Much better written than his examples.

Tovala's answering grin was completely unrepentant.

"Fine, then. You might want to practice a couple more times, though."

She did exactly that, writing her name twice more. Her three signatures were so perfectly identical they might have been duplicated by a machine.

"Okay, now you're just showing off," he said, still amused.

"Me?" she asked, too innocently.

He chuckled. "Well, anyway, I've got nothing left to teach you."

"Are you sure?" she inquired, still innocent.

He chuckled again. "Not about signing your name, at least. Oh, for official documents like these, we sign our full names. For most other things, just first and last name is fine, or first, middle initial and last. Once you decide on a signature, it's best to stick with the same one."

That all sounded sensible to her, and she agreed readily. He returned their scratch page to the recycle basket and they waited some more. The clerk returned in due course with a colorful sheet of heavy paper and laid it on the counter, facing them.

"You both need to sign, here." She pointed.

Dan mumbled, "We the bride and groom…yeah…okay." He signed, then passed the pen to Tovala and pointed. "Right there."

She filled in the box with another flawless signature and handed the pen back.

He parsed down the page and asked the clerk, "How did you get the Mayor's signature so fast?"

"He authorized me to sign for him."

"Oh. Makes sense. Uhhh…we need two witnesses. We had about forty, plus everybody is going to see us on TV and the internet, but none of them are here."

He glanced at the two sisters and asked Tovala, "I wonder, would your new friends help us out?"

After some whispering and giggling it turned out that they would, and soon their marriage license was duly witnessed by Guadalupe and Graciela Flores.

The clerk inspected it one last time. "The license fee is seventy dollars."

"Right." While Tovala thanked the sisters, Dan got out his checkbook, wrote out a check and tore it off. "Here you go."

"Wait here." She took the check and license into the back. They waited. He put his arm around Tovala, and she leaned against him. They waited some more. The clerk returned.

"Okay, your marriage is recorded, and the license is signed and stamped. You're all set. Congratulations." That last sounded rather perfunctory. Then again, she probably said it a dozen times a day.

Tovala smiled. "Thank you."

Dan smiled too. "That's right, thank you for all your help. Sorry if we've been a pain, but it was out of necessity. This license will help us a lot."

The clerk returned a lesser smile. "Ahh, you're welcome."

He rolled up the license, then looked at it, considering. He fished another sheet of paper out of the recycle basket, turned it sideways, wrapped it around the roll, and carefully tucked the ends in. "There. That should keep it from getting screwed up."

He looked at his watch. "Hmp. It's almost lunch time, but I think we should go straight over to the D.A.'s office. The Mayor must have called them by now, so, I don't want to keep them waiting any longer than we already have."

Tovala looked disappointed.

"We can go to lunch first if you really want to. I just don't think it's a good idea." He grimaced sardonically. "The government can make us wait, but you don't want to keep them waiting."

She returned his sour look as they left the waiting room. "Something else that's unfair, but we have to live with?"

"Something everybody has to live with. Oh, we might claim you're a special case, and get away with it, but a lot of people would resent us."

They stopped, and he pushed the elevator button.

"So we shouldn't take advantage, even when we can," she said thoughtfully.

"That's right. It would bite us in the ass eventually."

She giggled. "Another slang expression."

DING. The doors opened. They joined two men and a woman already in in the elevator.

She stood close beside him. "Okay, I can wait for lunch. Let's go straight there."

Author's Notes

Well, this took a while. I hope the next chapter goes faster.

I tried to check out the County Clerk's office, but all the government buildings are closed because of blind stupid panic over a cold virus. I based their experience on other government offices I have dealt with in the past, such as the building permit and civil business offices.

If anybody has been to the County Clerk's office and wants me to correct anything I got wrong, send me a message.