Page 97 of Very Special Forces

"Theyleft their cars at the hotel and got cabs."

"ThenJord."

"He andSerena left their cars too and carpooled."

"Whatabout Delgado?"

"He'sthe best man!"

"I'mgoing to check the situation, then I'm calling a cab," decided Dad.He got out of the car and went to speak to the chauffeur. I sat inthe back like a frou-frou princess and waited, hoping that someonehad a brilliant idea as traffic whizzed past us.

A lowrumble made me look up and blink. Then I rolled down the window."What are you doing here?" I asked when two uniformed menapproached the window.

"Movingthe tank," said Harris. He looked me over and nodded approvingly."You look nice. Going somewhere special?"

"I wasuntil the stupid car broke down. My dad is calling acab."

"Cancelit. We'll take you. Where are you going?" asked Kafsky.

"In thetank transporter? It's six blocks and the last part is a narrowstreet. It won't fit. Plus, how am I supposed to climb up into thetransporter's cab?"

"I gotsomething smaller," grinned Harris. "Can we borrow the ribbons fromthe car?"

Dadappeared next to him. "Who called the cavalry?" heasked.

"Not thecavalry. Just the regular Army, sir. Me and Sergeant Major Kafskyhere wanted to attend the wedding but we couldn't get leave. It's agood job we happened to be passing by. We're going to get you andyour daughter to the wedding."

"How?"asked Dad.

Harristapped his arm and they turned around. When Dad looked back, hissmile spanned one side of his face to the other. "Best. Day. Ever,"he breathed, his eyes wide.

"Oh,no," I said, shaking my head. "No. No. No."

~

"Atank?" said Lily when I hopped down onto the pathway leading to thegardens where our ceremony would take place. "Why didn't you tellme you were ditching the car and arriving by tank? I would havecome!"

"Itwasn't planned."

Shepointed. "It has ribbons!"

"Pilfered from the car."

"There'sa bow on the gun."

"Alsoimprovised."

Are yourfriends special forces?"

"They'resomething," I said. Practical jokers, friends, and two people I wascurrently very grateful to.

"That'sright. Very special forces," said Lily. "Very special forces gotyou here."

I lookedaround at the audience who had gathered to see what the commotionwas about. The jaws of my nephews had dropped to the floor alongwith most of the adult males. A couple of them were inspecting thetank and a lot had their cell phones out, snapping shots. I wassure I would have some trouble convincing people that these werenot shots suited to social media. "Solomon can't see this," I said."I can't explain it. That is, I can explain it but I don't want to.It's not classy. No bride in the world has ever arrived at herwedding by tank."

"Exceptyou," said Lily, still staring at it. "No one will ever forgetthis.”

"I'mgoing to start right now!" I decided. "We have to get it out ofhere before Solomon comes to see what the fuss isabout."

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