:C0930
:C1000
(C) /en7/ TIME CODE: 09:30
The Matre'd is overlooking the gathering from area C.
He'll notice the bridal party outside, by the Power House.
LYLLA moves into the area. /en5/ TIME CODE: 10:00
LYLLA
Excuse me -- do you know when the
ceremony will begin?
MATRE'D
Not until the bride arrives, I
presume. I believe she makes a
grand entrance of some kind.
LYLLA
That's different.
MATRE'D
I have nothing to do with the ceremony.
I just provide the facility.
LYLLA
For a pretty price, I imagine. But I
hear this church they belong to is loaded
to the gills.
MATRE'D
It's not as expensive here as you'd think.
We are very competitive.
LYLLA
Do wedding parties often write their own
ceremonies?
MATRE'D
Maybe one out of four. I've never had the
bride delivered so mysteriously, though.
LYLLA
What's the purpsoe of that, do you think?
MATRE'D
Beats me. We'll have to wait and see.
LYLLA
You think it'll make sense when we see it?
MATRE'D
You have a point -- maybe it won't.
LYLLA
I take it this is one of your stranger
weddings.
MATRE'D
It's the very strangest ever. No doubt
about it. There's never been a 25 thousand
year old High Priestess at Edgefield before.
LYLLA
I'm sure! Do you think the ceremony is intimately
tied up with the religion itself?
MATRE'D
It would have to be, wouldn't it?
LYLLA
So if the wedding is strange, the religion
itself must be strange.
MATRE'D
Lots of religions are strange.
LYLLA
But you have no doubt that
this wedding is, let us say, unorthodox,
to say the least?
MATRE'D
So many questions: You sound like a lawyer.
LYLLA
I am.
MATRE'D
You've got a case against the religion
or something?
LYLLA
Not really. I'm just trying to understand
it. I wonder, for example, where they get all
their money.
MATRE'D
Lots of rich misfits in the world. Look
at all those Kree that built that ashram in
Juniper County, a Swami with dozens of Rolls
Royces. These are no different. You can be
smart in some ways, smart enough to make a lot
of money, and still be spiritually lost. So
when the right guru comes along, wham!, you
feel like you've seen the light.
LYLLA
That's how you'd explain it?
MATRE'D
More or less. I have a younger sister
who joined the Kree. She was validictorian
of her high school class but that didn't
stop her.
LYLLA
It's a little sad, don't you think? That
people are so lost that they become gullible
to cults.
MATRE'D
Well, you have to consider the freedom of
religion aspect as well. Who's to say what's
a cult and what isn't? Are you Catholic?
LYLLA
No.
MATRE'D
My sister says Catholics are a cult, that
the Pope has more power than any swami.
Depends on your point of view.
LYLLA
You sound like a very tolerant man.
MATRE'D
When you've seen as much as I have, nothing
surprises you.
LYLLA
All the same, this is the strangest wedding
ever?
MATRE'D
In my opinion, it is. Someone else might
think differently.
LYLLA
Well, I can hardly wait to see what happens.
MATRE'D
You may not have to wait long.
LYLLA
What do you mean?
MATRE'D
I was told to be prepared for the wedding
within half an hour of my welcoming remarks.
LYLLA
Really?
MATRE'D
So I don't expect it to be long now. I keep
wondering how she'll make her appearance. I think
I may have an idea.
LYLLA
Maybe she'll drop in as a skydiver.
MATRE'D
On the other hand, there's something going on down
there. It looks like a small procession of some
kind.
LYLLA (looking out the window)
Oh my. Those aren't regular guests?
MATRE'D
Hard to say. We have Deadhead parties but it's
the wrong time of year.
LYLLA
Looks pretty festive down there, in a sixties sort
of way.
MATRE'D
Yes, it does. We get a lot of refugees from the
sixties. They keep trying to create a nostalgic
happening. Sort of sad, really, that they never grew
up.
LYLLA
I think you're right - those are church people and the
bride.
MATRE'D
We'll find out soon enough, I'm sure.
LYLLA
Then the wedding has a Back to Nature theme. They
do look like lost hippies, don't they?
MATRE'D
The lost hippies of Marin County, up for a weekend
from their six-digit day jobs.
LYLLA
They must be ready to make their entrance.
MATRE'D
Perhaps so. I guess we get no Wedding March. I
think people should leave the traditions alone.
How can you have the entrance of the bride without
a wedding march?
LYLLA
We may get a wedding march yet.
MATRE'D
Played on kazoos or what? They didn't ask for a
piano. I knew it would be a strange wedding as soon
as I learned. What a shame.
LYLLA
I find it more amusing than shameful. What people
will go through to try and be "creative."
MATRE'D
I believe in traditional weddings.
LYLLA
I guess I don't believe in weddings much at all.
MATRE'D
Really?
LYLLA
Speaking personally.
MATRE'D
Let me guess. You had a bitter divorce.
LYLLA
I've never been married.
MATRE'D
Now that surprises me. Never met the right man?
LYLLA
End of conversation. See you at the wedding.
Lylla heads for A, while the captain continues to
observe from C.
Down on the grounds below: TRUDY, MAXINE and WOLF in
primitive costume "back to nature" costumes, perhpas with
ancient animal horns, blowing strange sounds, beginning "the
ritual of the offering of the bride." This should take about
three minutes (Trudy enters at 16:00).
/ex5/ /h7/ TIME CODE: 13:00
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