The (Always) Missing Part
Laura woke up very early that Saturday. She was happy: It was the day of her best friend's wedding ceremony at the local church and she was taking care of everything. By 8 am she had already called the flowers supplier, set a time for delivery and called a hair dresser for herself. Samantha – the bride – had been at the same hairdresser since the previous day. She picked up the phone.
"Tom?", she asked the man who took some time to answer the phone.
"Speaking..." by his voice tone and hoarseness, Tom proved that last night had been an unforgettable one.
"Where is Pedro?", she asked somewhat worried.
"Sleeping."
"Don't forget that he has to be at the church by 10:30. Pastor Joseph doesn't really enjoy people being late."
"Why does he have to be there so early? The wedding is only at 8pm!" he said, making a big effort to have his voice heard.
"Things are simply the way they are, Tom. Do not question Pastor Joseph's authority. Ok?"
"Fine." He hung up.
...
Laura left the hairdresser only 2 hours before the ceremony. She was terribly late. When she got to the church, the flowers had already been delivered and some girls from the church were already arranging them. Laura noticed that they had put the white flowers before the yellow ones instead of the opposite. Fifteen minutes after that the flowers were in their correct places. It's the tradition, she would answer to everyone who questioned the changes.
...
"Fellows," Pastor Joseph started his speech. "we are gathered tonight to celebrate the union of this young couple," he looked at his annotations in the pulpit "Pedro Alcantara and Samantha Roles, which are both members of this congregation."
"It's something really interesting when two people find themselves in life and decide to be together." The Reverend paused and looked at the small audience in front of him. "Man and woman were made to complete each other, and when one of these parts are missing, the person tends to insanity. We all need to find our 'other part'..."
Laura listened to anything else. She had been asking why she was having so many mood changes and depressive Sundays. I need to get married, she concluded.
"...husband and wife." and the congregation exploded in applauses.
...
…
Years passed and Laura was never married. She waited for a man, her "other part", to show up, but that never happened. She also never tried to find him, but Pastor Joseph had said before that "the man should find his other part and the woman should wait and accept her moment. But that moment has never happened to Laura.
That's the tradition, she would say...
