The Marrying Men

She just doesn’t want

One of the Marrying Men

That’s the problem

She goes out every night

With some other guy

From Scoville

Or Landon Hills

Or Bryar

But when I try to tell her

That those guys

Are guys

And not men

She just laughs at me

And gets right in the car anyway

You know, when I was younger

I used to daydream

About what people did

On Friday nights

I never did anything

But stay at home with Mom

And watch Wheel of Fortune

While she sat with a big bowl of peapods

And told me how lonely she was

Like I wasn’t sitting right there with her

I used to think about my friends

--Or the kids at school

That I thought were my friends

I used to wonder

What they were up to
And, like--

If they were doing fun stuff?

A few of them used to sit in homeroom

On Monday mornings

And talk about

Doing this or that

One time I heard this girl Jeannie

Say she went into the city

On a Friday night

And got into this eighteen-plus club

Because she was dating the bouncer

And I thought that was the most grown-up

And exciting thing

I ever heard

The city

A club

Bouncers

Going out on a Friday

I said that one day

When I was older

I was going to do something

Just like that

But two days after high school

Working down at Nicholson’s Uniforms

I met Carl

He came in to buy shirts

For the little league team

He was coaching

And I could tell

Right away

That he was one of those

Marrying Men

Sure enough

Eight months later

We’re tying the knot

And living in Temple

Which…

I never thought

I’d have a house in Temple

My mother wouldn’t even come visit me

Because she said the house was too nice

Like that’s any reason to stay away

She thought I had airs all of a sudden

That...

That I had my chin up

Or something like that

It was—

It was wild

It really was

Then when the baby came along

And Carl started working more

And pretty soon

He was working too much

In my opinion

We never did go out

On Friday nights

Because he was always busy

At the factory

Trying to keep things going

And then…

Heart attack at forty-three years old

Do you believe it?

I sure didn’t

Now I got sixteen-year-old daughter

Who barely remembers her father

And goes out looking for another one

On Friday nights

Except she doesn’t want someone like him

Because she thinks a guy like him

Is going to drop dead on her

Like mine did on me

She saw what it was like

Having a heart get crushed

And so all she wants is some fun

With a Scoville boy

Or one of those Landon Hills juvie's

Who get high in the parking lot at the high school

Isn’t it funny that they won’t go to school during the day

But as soon as the last bell rings on Friday

They’re pulling into the parking lot

Ready to sit there all night

Laughing about dumb shit

And teaching my daughter god knows what?

That’s the thing

All these years later

And I still don’t know

What people do

On Friday nights

Not even my little girl

I just know she’s not hanging out

With any Marrying Men

Boys, guys, jerks, assholes

Troublemakers

Sure

But no Marrying Men

No men like her father

She’s not going anywhere near

Men like him

And that’s all I know

About what she does

Sometimes I think

That’s all I can bear

To know