In the years that followed, Lena would spend many evenings in that uncomfortable wooden chair, pretending to sip the tangy, fragrant "maroonies" that Jo-Ann always served, staring at the indignant back from Maude and listening to what was happening. she would later call it "Jo-Ann Stories": wild adventures that often seemed like they were playing out in a crazy TV sitcom. Lena remembered stories like "Uninhibited Island" in which Jo-Ann explained that she and a friend flew to her private island and decided to go swimming. Once in the water, they heard whistling and screaming. Turning around and looking up, they found a construction crew cheering them on. “I could have sworn the island was unfettered!” » She exclaimed. “Uninhibited?” Lena had questioned – then they'd laughed, holding each other's sides and rocking when she and Jo-Ann finally realized she meant 'uninhabited'. Then there was the story of how Jo-Ann was twenty-one and took her first trip to New York. York. She had been so proud of herself: flying in a plane! As she placed her foot on the first step of the companion staircase, which had been pushed up to the plane's exit door, she noticed that her date was waiting there to meet her. Throwing off her elegant veiled hat, she lost her footing, quickly tumbling down the entire length of the stairs and landing at the feet of her escort. What would have devastated others didn't bother her at all! Eccentric, scandalous, generous and full of humor, she attacked life rather than living it and survived in a world too harsh for her fragile psyche, thanks to her wit, to cigarettes, to large doses of alcohol and his pets. She was owned by five cats: Maude was a long-haired gray tiger of an imperious disposition...... middle of paper ...... dressed in Vicki's office and went to the arbor to wait his fiancée. He was dressed in a white, fringed buckskin jacket. A balero torquois tie, worn in honor of his wife, encircled the color of a crisp white cotton shirt. Black jeans and black cowboy boots completed her wedding outfit. The soft soaring notes of a flute drifted to Michael's ears. Brent Blount, a highly regarded musician who played tenor sax, clarinet, blues and jazz guitar, and Native American flute, played “Wankan Tanka,” a song about new beginnings. There was silence and slowly the flute started again. This time it was "Sunrise Song". A melodious vibrato fills the rooms. It was time. Lena jumped and smiled. Brent was playing the song she had chosen for her entrance. Taking a deep breath, Lena opened her office door and began her journey as a wife..