Yay! A new Blathering! And it's by our own Miss Megan!!
Here's a story she wrote for her Creative Writing class - I bet you didn't know I'm actually her second husband.

The Unlucky Rabbit's Foot
by Megan

My first marriage didn't last very long, only a few days. Well, I was only in the third grade at the time, so a few days seemed like a lifetime.

Colleen and I lay sunbathing on my back porch. It was late Spring and warm enough to tan - even though all I ever got were freckles and a sunburn. We had the entire backyard to ourselves. The small grassy section was free from my two pugs - Smokey and Bandit - and the back wooded section shielded us from the next house, which I was thankful for. I hated the idea of someone watching me.

I heard Colleen click open the Johnson & Johnson Baby Oil to spread over her arms and legs. Without opening my eyes, I felt my own arms and could tell they were still shiny and slippery. When she clicked the top closed, I peered over at her as I flipped onto my belly. Something caught my attention at the fence at the side of the house. I quickly sat up and peered at a blurred image.

"What?" Colleen asked, sitting up.

"Somebody was at the fence." I quickly pulled on my O.P. shirt. What sort of perv was watching me and my friend? I marched down the three steps and over to the side fence while Colleen stood and watched.

Scott Slaby, my neighbor two doors down, and Joey DeNicholas were crouched behind the fence. "What are you guys doing here?" Scott and I were friends and would play together sometimes, but there was something fishy about them spying on us.

Having been caught, they stood, placing their hands on the top of the wooden privacy fence. "Joey wanted to ask you something," Scott grinned with his crooked front teeth crossing over each other. He nudged Joey who blushed.
I had no idea what they were getting at, but they were acting weird. I was glad I had put my shirt on over my Arena swim suit - the same suit I wore for practice and meets. "Go around to the gate," I told them and motioned toward it.

"What are they doing here?" Colleen asked as I walked back to the porch to put on my shorts. Colleen was already pulling on her own clothes.

I shrugged. "I don't know. Why were they watching us?"

Colleen smiled. "'Cause they like us." She knew all about relationships and boys from her older sisters.

We met the boys at the gate. Scott stood with a goofy grin on his face. His blonde hair was bushy and stood out at the sides. His black T-shirt bagged around his small arms and hung down to mid-thigh where his khaki shorts peeked out. Joey, on the other hand would not meet my eyes. His red Izod shirt went nicely with his black hair and eyes. He was by far the darkest of us three. He was a short boy, though still taller than me - the shortest girl in school. Though he had pretty eyes, I was having a hard time seeing them as he looked at the ground.

"What's going on?" Colleen asked. She was always good at getting to the point.

"Joey wants to ask Megan something," Scott told her, as if divulging a secret.

Colleen smiled, and I felt like I was the only one not in on the joke. What was going on? I was ready to turn around and go inside. I didn't like being the only one in the dark.
I looked at Joey and waited with my arms crossed. "Well?"
He shuffled his Vans and shoved his hands deep into his cut-off shorts. "Will," he mumbled, "will you marry me?" he asked and finally raised his dark eyes to mine.

"What?"

"Yeah she will!" Colleen answered for me and grabbed my hand.

"I can marry them. I got some wedding music on tape from my mom," Scott offered.

I watched as Scott and Colleen decided that Joey and I would marry each other on Scott's driveway and Colleen would be the maid of honor. Joey just smiled. Before I could even argue, Colleen was leading me to Scott's.
Scott and Joey ran ahead to get things ready. When we got there, we stood in the driveway. Scott wore his black shirt which now made me think of a priest and held out a silver tape recorder with his mom's tape of wedding music. He pushed the Play button and a tinny version of Here Comes the Bride echoed out of it. He had to turn up the volume for us all to hear it.

Colleen stood beside me as we listened. Once the song was over, Scott put the tape recorder on the black paved driveway and opened a book which was supposed to act as the Bible.

"We are gathered here today to marry Joey..." he paused then asked, "What's your middle name?"

"Anthony."

"To marry Joey Anthony DeNicholas and Megan..." he turned to me and asked, "What's your middle name?"

"Elaine," Colleen answered for me.

"To Megan Elaine Campbell. Will you, Joey, marry Megan?" He waited respectfully for Joey's response.
"I do," Joey said and squeezed my sweaty hand.
I looked at him. Did I really want to marry him? Sure he was cute, but I had never thought of him in this way before. Did I really want to spend the rest of my life with him? I didn't have time to really investigate this train of thought because Scott quickly asked me the same question, and before I could think of any other response, I said, "I do."
I felt another squeeze from Joey. Colleen patted my shoulder excitedly. It was the first time I had done something before Colleen, probably the last time in my life, too.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You..."

"What about a ring? He has to give her a ring or something," Colleen said.

Scott looked at Joey. "Do you have anything?"

Joey shoved his hands back in his pockets. "I don't have a ring," he said as he felt around.

"It doesn't have to be a ring, but something you can give to her," Colleen explained, the expert of everything.

"What about this?" He pulled out a white and brown rabbit's foot which dangled from a gold beaded key chain. Joey held the chain pinched between his fingers, allowing the foot to dangle.

Scott and Joey looked to Colleen for her confirmation, as it had apparently been determined that she was the expert here. She nodded a grave, adult nod. Joey turned toward me and presented it to me.

"Here," he said and thrust it at me.

What Joey DeNicholas did not know was that I was allergic to rabbits. I had discovered this, or really the doctor had discovered this, after a series of bubble-shot tests. It was also discovered after I saw a cage full of bunnies for sale. What little girl doesn't want a bunny? I picked one up and nuzzled it against my face. Oh the soft fur was unlike anything I had ever touched before. I wanted one more than anything, even more than a pony - at least at that moment. But my dream of owning my own version of the Easter Bunny was stalled by the sudden red welts which popped out all over my arms, chest and face. My mom had to place cold washcloths all over me while I scratched at them.

So no bunnies for me, but here my future husband was holding out my hive-inducing enemy to me, dangling it in front of my face. As I stood frozen, the ceremony continued without me.

"You are married. You have to kiss now."

It was not until Joey leaned in to me, that I snapped attention away from the still dangling rabbit's foot. He held the foot to the side, still at head level, and puckered his pink lips. His eyes were closed. I suppose he was waiting for me to meet him half way, but I didn't budge. A rabbit's foot? Colleen pushed me into him, and his lips met the corner of my mouth. I quickly recovered and pushed him square in the chest.

"Get away," I said.

"But we're married now. It's okay to kiss," Joey said, smiling from ear to ear, pinkness shining through his tan cheeks. Again, he held the rabbit's foot out to me. "You have to take this. It's like our ring."

I pushed his hand away and scrunched up my face as if he had just suggested we go watch Sesame Street or something lame. "No," I said and backed up a few steps, pushing Colleen aside.

"You have to take it, Meg," Colleen said, her hands on my shoulders as if she were explaining something to a baby.
I shrugged her off. "No." I ran down the driveway to the sidewalk and headed toward my house.

Joey ran after me and was soon on my heels. "You have to take this," he called after me.

I stopped in front of my house and turned toward him, ready to explain everything. When he stopped, though, he grabbed my T-shirt at the chest, and tried to stuff the rabbit's foot down my shirt. I bunched my arms together close against my chest and tried to fight him. I was not about to let him do it. I took a big step backward, pulled my right arm back as far as it would go, then punched him in the stomach with all my might. He doubled over, his breath rushing from his lips in an audible groan.

One hand held his stomach while the other rested on his knobby knee. "Megan, you have to take this or we're not married."

I slapped his back and put my hands on my hips. "I'm not taking it." I ran inside my house and watched out the window until he walked back to Scott's, looking at the rabbit's foot in his hand as if the answer was somehow in it.

I didn't see him again until Monday at school. "I think I want a divorce," he said to me.

"Yeah," I nodded.

Thus ended my first marriage after three days. I heard he married Robin Harms only a month later. Me, I stayed single for the rest of my elementary years.