Blackmail and Camouflage

The Hong Kong flu is rapidly blanketing the country and has made its appearance in time for our nuptials. Today’s ceremony is a religious one and not everyone is privy to this bit of information. My husband's parents and some of their friends are aware of this deception. My mother-in-law, being the creative genius behind this ruse, worried what people would think of her harboring her son and his girlfriend in the same room for the summer (we decided it would not be a good idea for me to go home when my semester ended, fearing that we would be kept apart), encouraged our elopement. At twenty one I had little experience or foresight into how I might feel in the future concerning this decision. I had convinced myself it was the right thing to do in light of my mother's raging disapproval of our union and continual attempts at blackmail (shiny brochures for new cars came in the mail periodically while I was at school as a bargaining chip for my return home, unattached and single). Articles ripped from the newspaper were mailed to me by my mother detailing the pervasive nature of fanatical cults that seemed to be springing up and how parents of brainwashed children hired operatives to bring them home. I began to have a rather abnormal fear of being snatched at any moment while on my way to class by some emissary dressed in camouflage employed by my mother. I made sure I walked to class in the middle of the sidewalk, away from the profusion of foliage lining the way.