Univited Guest

There was to be a wedding. It would be  given by a middle-aged couple, Sally and Dick, who courting and co-habiting,  had in their two years together, saved up enough to "make it legal". The dream day wedding would have the usual costly long white dress, a collection of elder bridesmaids and a stack of rental tuxedos. The guest list was extensive. As well as every relative that could be dredged up (ergo the bridal registration at the department store) it included the mechanic, the local doctor and his wife, hoards of friends and most of the neighbours. It blew the mind thinking of how many sheet and towel sets were on their way, not to speak of blenders and colourful plastic knives.  The bride-to-be, a woman of considerable years, had hitherto lived with another man, Tom, for a very long time. Tom had dumped Sally a few years back and taken up with Floozie whom everyone hated, secretly or otherwise. It was a not-speaking situation. Tom and his Floozie would, naturally, not be wedding guests. It was felt that Tom would be taught a lesson and Floozie, put in her place. It was to be a win win matter and vengeance done. Sally and Dick thought Tom would be devastated since everyone else in the world was going to their wedding of the year.  They told themselves that if they did invite Tom and Floozie, it could create a scene and if not that, certainly an embarrassement. Tom got wind of it when he heard the family of Sally, liked him well enough but they liked Dick more, thus his exclusion.  Tom didn't care a whiff one way or the other. He had Floozie and had never been more content in his life. And Floozie who was a rather fine person if anyone cared to notice, didn't give it a thought either. What no one figured on  was that Tom's absence from the guest roster, made him the most visible invisible person at the wedding. Omission becomes blatantly the obvious. When the wedding occurred, everyone asked, where's Tom? And then they recalled that Tom had someone else, Floozie. The wedding over, soon became old-hat and yesterday's news, but no one forgot a delightfully wicked, ever romantic, Tom and his lover, Floozie.