7) Blonde Belinda

Walker Bugh's neighbor, Blonde Belinda, came to Walker's door almost as often as Dillface Donna, but Blonde Belinda never came for coffee. She usually brought her own smoothie concocted of roots and berries that Walker Bugh had never heard of. Belinda often collapsed on the front room floor in a yoga pose to relieve her stress before she launched into the latest event in her life. So when she appeared without drink in hand and wandered into the kitchen without doing a destressing yoga pose, Walker Bugh knew something in Blonde Belinda's life dramatically changed.

"I'm getting married!" she announced breathlessly.

"Again?" Walker Bugh said in disbelief. Blonde Belinda had already two tries at marriage and had declared all men crude and insensitive.

"Aubrey is the one I've been looking for." She clasped her hands over her heart hidden under a wisp of gauze. "He defies the proposition that woman are from Venus and men are from Mars. His soul is as beautiful as if he came from the planet of love."

Walker Bugh took a long drink of her coffee. She didn't bother to mention that Venus was enveloped by a cloud of carbon dioxide that had turned the planet hot enough to melt lead. "I hope you have a long engagement in mind."

"A month. And I want you to be my bridesmaid."

"Belinda, I"-

"I knew you would be honored. You've been here for me when I was searching for the happiness I've found."

"I was going to say a long engagement is more than a month."

Blonde Belinda rolled her eyes towards the kitchen ceiling as if it was a heavenly apparition. "I adore your wry humor. Love is not marked by time."

Walker Bugh thought of her own bad marriage that followed a year-long engagement. Love was not marked by time, but neither was a disaster.

"It will be a small wedding." Blonde Belinda twirled like a prima ballerina. "I have so many things to arrange. Thank you." And she flitted out the door before Walker Bugh could say another word even if she had more words to say. What could one say to someone who had found a man from Venus?