Chapter Three
New Jersey
“In the jungle…”
“How romantic…”
“Maybe I should go to the jungle…”
The trio of bridesmaids looked at each other and giggled, then returned their attention to the mirror and continued primping. Though no observer would imagine for a moment that any further touches could be required or indeed possible to augment their stunning beauty, they each desired that everything be absolutely perfect on this, the most exciting day of their lives.
Helen McGregor, a well-bred woman who remained attractive even in her mid-fifties, arranged the shoulders of her daughter’s wedding gown and looked at the two of them in the mirror together. Elaine looked exactly as she herself had at that age and displayed the same emotions as she had at her own wedding; a facade of calm barely masking tremendous excitement and just a touch of fear. She was radiant beyond description. And yet, something was wrong and it made Helen uncomfortable. Her eyes brimmed with fluid.
Elaine turned away from the mirror. “Mother, what’s wrong?” she said, expecting to hear some nostalgic reminisces about her mother’s own wedding or about how fast she had grown up.
“When we bought this dress,” Helen said, indicating its entire length with her hand, “I thought you were going to marry Benny. You two were made for each other. It was perfect.”
“Oh, Mother.” Elaine embraced her. “When you get to know Indy, you’ll see I made the right choice. He’s – he’s just incredible. He can do anything.”
In the groom’s chamber, Indiana Jones fumed with rage as his fingers struggled with his tie. Today he was tying the knot, but he suddenly couldn’t remember how to tie this knot. Left over right, and under – no, around – or was it right over left? No, he’d already tried that –
He exhaled with relief when a pair of older hands took over. “Easy there, Junior,” his father said. “My God, the Nazis never half scared you so much, did they?”
“I got used to them,” Indy said with a forced grin. This was a rather more unique experience. He had gotten married once, he remembered, thinking back to Deirdre Campbell with a twinge of sadness. But that had been on a boat in a South American port, with a few people he had just met. It hadn’t seemed such a big deal as this did now.
His father smiled as well. “You’re not used to her, though, eh? Small wonder.” Henry Jones Sr. finished Indy’s tie and made a few minor adjustments. “There you are, Junior. I don’t know how you expect to ‘tie the knot’ when you can’t even –”
“Yeah, I thought of that, Dad. Hilarious. And don’t call me Junior.”
Henry chuckled softly to himself and looked at his son. It seemed only yesterday the man had been a toddler climbing onto the roof of their house right here in Princeton and scaring the daylights out of him. And yet, somehow they seemed to have taken eons to reach this point, when his son was finally settling down from his reckless ways to raise up posterity for him. Neither of them could afford to wait any longer – Indy was getting old, now, and what did that make him?
Still, he wasn’t entirely comfortable with this situation, and perhaps it was too late to voice his concerns, but he felt he ought to anyway, as long as they were having this father-son moment alone together. “I’d known your mother for three years before we got married,” he began.
Indy rolled his eyes. “What’s your point, Dad?” he said, his tone suggesting he knew exactly what it was.
“My point is: what do you know about this girl? Who are her parents? What schools did they go to?”
“I don’t know and it doesn’t matter. I love her.” Indy looked at Henry as if daring him to press the issue.
Henry returned the look for a moment, then softened. He didn’t want to ruin this moment. “Your mother would have loved to be here, Junior,” he said.
Indy stared thoughtfully at the ceiling. “Maybe she is,” he said. “Maybe she is.”
“She would tell you something, if she could.”
“What?”
“Don’t blow it.”
“Thanks, Dad. I’ll try to remember that.” Indy looked at the two of them in the mirror and lost himself in thought as he imagined the missing third member of their family.
Just then the door flew open and Elaine poked her head in. “Knock, knock. May I come in?”
Radiant didn’t begin to describe her. Henry was speechless. “You look… fabulous,” Indy said.
Elaine glanced between them. “I’m sorry, am I interrupting something?”
“No,” Indy said. “Dad was just leaving…”
Henry cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Isn’t it bad luck for the bride to be seen by the groom before the wedding?”
“I’m not superstitious,” she said. “Are you?” She glided over the floor to him, then gave him a wink and a kiss on the cheek.
Henry’s face turned a light shade of pink and he seemed to have trouble finding his voice. “Me, superstitious?” he croaked. To Indy he said, “I’ll just… meet you in the church.” He stumbled toward the door.
“Hey,” Indy called after him, “see if you can figure out where the hell Marcus is at, will you? I gave him very specific, written directions. He should be here by now.” Henry nodded and shut the door behind him.
As soon as he was gone, Indy pulled Elaine close to him. She smelled exquisite, like the atmosphere of heaven. She said, “I just wanted to tell you... this is the most wonderful day of my life. And I love you, more than anything.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Anything?”
“Anything,” she whispered, and drew him in for a kiss.
Before they could leave the material world behind, there was another knock on the door and a bridesmaid stuck her head in the room. “Elaine,” she said, trembling with excitement, “it’s time.”
***
The strains of jubilant organ music swirled around the chapel on Princeton University campus as it filled with guests. Short Round and Sallah, two of Indiana Jones’ oldest friends from China and Egypt, respectively, ushered a pair of women to their seats. The women, too, were well acquainted with Dr. Jones.
“I can’t believe he actually found someone who would say yes,” the first said.
“I know,” the second said.
Sallah smiled in bemusement. “You mean other than yourselves?”
The women both gave him a stony look.
Short Round and Sallah looked around the chapel and smirked to themselves. While the bride’s side of the church housed a contingent of well-dressed and groomed middle and upper class folks, Indy’s side told a different story. While there were some of that ilk, it was for the most part a wilder, more worldly group of guests from all points of the globe, more diverse than New York City. Elaine’s acquaintances eyed them with suspicion, and some of them returned the favor.
At the front of the chapel, Henry and Indy stepped out with the minister and looked back over their shoulders as bridesmaids began to enter the chapel. Henry smiled at each of them. His smile grew broader when he saw Marcus Brody, former curator of the National Museum and Dean of Students at Marshall College but more importantly a close longtime friend of both Joneses, rushing up to them. Indy was ecstatic to see him as well, but his smile quickly faded when he saw the seventy-year-old man’s condition.
“So sorry I’m late, Indiana,” he said, panting as sweat ran down his ruddy face. “My business took rather longer than expected. And as for these directions you gave me, well, I couldn’t quite make out –”
“Easy, Marcus,” Indy said, putting a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “You shouldn’t have pushed yourself. I’d rather have you late to my wedding than late as in, you know, dead. Get him a glass of water,” he ordered a bystander.
“Rubbish, Indy,” Marcus said, waving him off. “This event is one of the few things I’ve left to live for.”
“You and I both,” said Henry, slapping him on the back. “I’ve been through some marvelous and strange happenings with Junior, but this is one I’d begun to consider impossible.”
“Make up your mind, Dad. You’ve always wanted me to get married, then suddenly you didn’t, now just as suddenly you do. And don’t call me Junior.”
“I only meant –”
“Hello there,” Marcus said to himself as he ogled the bridesmaids, “I do believe my heart is feeling better already.”
“Delightful, aren’t they?” Henry said. “Particularly the one in the middle, if I do say so.”
“I just threw up in my mouth a little,” Indy informed the old men.
In the foyer at the rear of the chapel Elaine nervously straightened her veil as her father, Fred McGregor, looked on. He gave her a peck on the cheek and patted her hand. “Relax,” he said. “You look wonderful.”
She smiled and opened her mouth to say something, but the door in front of them began to open. She gathered her composure and they stepped to the door, but just then the other door, behind them, burst open. A handsome man in his early forties ran in, gasping for breath and on the verge of panic.
Elaine’s smile faded.
From the viewpoint of Indy and his father, she and the man were plainly visible through the door. They could see Elaine shake her head while the man gesticulated wildly about something. The organist glanced at them and continued playing, but exchanged a nervous look with the minister. Elaine was making no move to enter the chapel.
“This is unusual,” Henry said. “An old friend?”
“I don’t know,” Indy said, but a horrible suspicion was coming over him. Dr. Benjamin F. Morganthal?
“See, these are the things a long engagement would point out,” Henry said.
“Dad, you’re getting wound up over nothing,” Indy snapped, but his stomach was tying itself in the knot. The gestures from both her and the man were growing more and more animated by the second.
“Does that look like nothing to you?” Henry hissed. Indy didn’t answer.
“Perhaps she’s double-parked,” Marcus said.
The guests on both sides of the room shifted uncomfortably.
“Perhaps you should go find out what’s going on,” Henry continued.
“Dad,” Indy said, finally turning to face his father, “I’m sure it’s okay. I –”
“Junior! Look!”
Indy’s head snapped around. Elaine’s father was motioning to him from the rear of the chapel. His daughter and the other man were nowhere to be seen. “She’s gone!” Fred yelled, as if they hadn’t noticed.
“Oh dear,” Marcus said.
“I knew you should have found out more about her,” Henry said, but Indy was already rushing up the aisle.
“What do you mean she’s gone?” he demanded.
“He took her!”
That was all Indy needed to hear. He was out the door just in time to see a black sedan roaring off. Behind him he heard Fred yelling about something, but he paid no attention. He looked around and spotted his wedding car with “JUST MARRIED” soaped on the windows and cans hanging off the back. The driver waited beside the car, reading a newspaper.
“Ah, Dr. Jones,” he said as Indy approached, “is something –”
As gently as he could under the circumstances, Indy shoved him aside and jumped behind the wheel. Fortunately the key was in the ignition and he was on the sedan’s trail in moments. It weaved back and forth through the sleepy college town traffic, but he matched its moves perfectly, cans banging on the asphalt behind him.
Soon only one car separated them. Indy pulled off to the right to pass when a truck backed out in front of him. With a curse he slammed on the brakes and cut the wheel, sending his car roaring across campus, cutting down sidewalks and over lawns. Having had some experience with high-speed out-of-control vehicles, he was able to steer while keeping the sedan in the corner of his eye.
Well, mostly. He wasn’t able to keep himself from blasting through a hedge onto the football practice fields. The football team ran for cover, but he had already cut hard to avoid them, endangering instead the band and cheerleaders. They scattered, showering Indy’s car with pom-poms and leaving him a slalom course of expensive brass equipment. One dedicated young lady turned her run for life into a series of cartwheels, distracting him for one vital second that would have been better spent regaining control of the vehicle.
He roared down an embankment onto a lower field where homecoming floats were being prepared and swerved between two, but failed to avoid crashing through the tallest one, a beefeater, taking half the chicken wire and crepe paper with him. His inertia quickly tore it into smaller pieces and left it behind just in time for him to see looming before him two stories of wood being stacked for the homecoming bonfire.
Indy yanked on the wheel yet again and clipped the corner of the pile with a sickening thud. In his rear-view mirror he saw it wobble and collapse as students leaped for cover and he burst through a picket fence onto the street and directly behind the sedan.
“Top that,” he said.
He floored the gas, moving fender to fender with it. He could see Elaine in the front passenger seat, and next to her, the man from the wedding. The man looked back and held an indecipherable look with Indy. Then he slowed down and hit the brakes.
“Damn it!” Indy swerved into a yard once again. He managed to avoid a bed of begonias and bring the car to a stop before it would have smashed through the wall of the house. Through the window, a startled family looked up from their lunch. He gave them a sheepish grin and a wave.
Behind him and out of his view, the black sedan disappeared around the corner and ran up the ramp of a tractor trailer truck. Two men dressed as movers folded up the ramp and closed the doors, which were emblazoned with the name “CAMPUS MOVERS”.
Indy pulled out of the yard and roared around the corner, going straight past the trailer. The “movers” climbed into its cab and drove off. The road ahead was empty. He stopped the car, climbed out and looked around, but Elaine was gone.
Next: Chapter Four
“How romantic…”
“Maybe I should go to the jungle…”
The trio of bridesmaids looked at each other and giggled, then returned their attention to the mirror and continued primping. Though no observer would imagine for a moment that any further touches could be required or indeed possible to augment their stunning beauty, they each desired that everything be absolutely perfect on this, the most exciting day of their lives.
Helen McGregor, a well-bred woman who remained attractive even in her mid-fifties, arranged the shoulders of her daughter’s wedding gown and looked at the two of them in the mirror together. Elaine looked exactly as she herself had at that age and displayed the same emotions as she had at her own wedding; a facade of calm barely masking tremendous excitement and just a touch of fear. She was radiant beyond description. And yet, something was wrong and it made Helen uncomfortable. Her eyes brimmed with fluid.
Elaine turned away from the mirror. “Mother, what’s wrong?” she said, expecting to hear some nostalgic reminisces about her mother’s own wedding or about how fast she had grown up.
“When we bought this dress,” Helen said, indicating its entire length with her hand, “I thought you were going to marry Benny. You two were made for each other. It was perfect.”
“Oh, Mother.” Elaine embraced her. “When you get to know Indy, you’ll see I made the right choice. He’s – he’s just incredible. He can do anything.”
In the groom’s chamber, Indiana Jones fumed with rage as his fingers struggled with his tie. Today he was tying the knot, but he suddenly couldn’t remember how to tie this knot. Left over right, and under – no, around – or was it right over left? No, he’d already tried that –
He exhaled with relief when a pair of older hands took over. “Easy there, Junior,” his father said. “My God, the Nazis never half scared you so much, did they?”
“I got used to them,” Indy said with a forced grin. This was a rather more unique experience. He had gotten married once, he remembered, thinking back to Deirdre Campbell with a twinge of sadness. But that had been on a boat in a South American port, with a few people he had just met. It hadn’t seemed such a big deal as this did now.
His father smiled as well. “You’re not used to her, though, eh? Small wonder.” Henry Jones Sr. finished Indy’s tie and made a few minor adjustments. “There you are, Junior. I don’t know how you expect to ‘tie the knot’ when you can’t even –”
“Yeah, I thought of that, Dad. Hilarious. And don’t call me Junior.”
Henry chuckled softly to himself and looked at his son. It seemed only yesterday the man had been a toddler climbing onto the roof of their house right here in Princeton and scaring the daylights out of him. And yet, somehow they seemed to have taken eons to reach this point, when his son was finally settling down from his reckless ways to raise up posterity for him. Neither of them could afford to wait any longer – Indy was getting old, now, and what did that make him?
Still, he wasn’t entirely comfortable with this situation, and perhaps it was too late to voice his concerns, but he felt he ought to anyway, as long as they were having this father-son moment alone together. “I’d known your mother for three years before we got married,” he began.
Indy rolled his eyes. “What’s your point, Dad?” he said, his tone suggesting he knew exactly what it was.
“My point is: what do you know about this girl? Who are her parents? What schools did they go to?”
“I don’t know and it doesn’t matter. I love her.” Indy looked at Henry as if daring him to press the issue.
Henry returned the look for a moment, then softened. He didn’t want to ruin this moment. “Your mother would have loved to be here, Junior,” he said.
Indy stared thoughtfully at the ceiling. “Maybe she is,” he said. “Maybe she is.”
“She would tell you something, if she could.”
“What?”
“Don’t blow it.”
“Thanks, Dad. I’ll try to remember that.” Indy looked at the two of them in the mirror and lost himself in thought as he imagined the missing third member of their family.
Just then the door flew open and Elaine poked her head in. “Knock, knock. May I come in?”
Radiant didn’t begin to describe her. Henry was speechless. “You look… fabulous,” Indy said.
Elaine glanced between them. “I’m sorry, am I interrupting something?”
“No,” Indy said. “Dad was just leaving…”
Henry cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Isn’t it bad luck for the bride to be seen by the groom before the wedding?”
“I’m not superstitious,” she said. “Are you?” She glided over the floor to him, then gave him a wink and a kiss on the cheek.
Henry’s face turned a light shade of pink and he seemed to have trouble finding his voice. “Me, superstitious?” he croaked. To Indy he said, “I’ll just… meet you in the church.” He stumbled toward the door.
“Hey,” Indy called after him, “see if you can figure out where the hell Marcus is at, will you? I gave him very specific, written directions. He should be here by now.” Henry nodded and shut the door behind him.
As soon as he was gone, Indy pulled Elaine close to him. She smelled exquisite, like the atmosphere of heaven. She said, “I just wanted to tell you... this is the most wonderful day of my life. And I love you, more than anything.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Anything?”
“Anything,” she whispered, and drew him in for a kiss.
Before they could leave the material world behind, there was another knock on the door and a bridesmaid stuck her head in the room. “Elaine,” she said, trembling with excitement, “it’s time.”
***
The strains of jubilant organ music swirled around the chapel on Princeton University campus as it filled with guests. Short Round and Sallah, two of Indiana Jones’ oldest friends from China and Egypt, respectively, ushered a pair of women to their seats. The women, too, were well acquainted with Dr. Jones.
“I can’t believe he actually found someone who would say yes,” the first said.
“I know,” the second said.
Sallah smiled in bemusement. “You mean other than yourselves?”
The women both gave him a stony look.
Short Round and Sallah looked around the chapel and smirked to themselves. While the bride’s side of the church housed a contingent of well-dressed and groomed middle and upper class folks, Indy’s side told a different story. While there were some of that ilk, it was for the most part a wilder, more worldly group of guests from all points of the globe, more diverse than New York City. Elaine’s acquaintances eyed them with suspicion, and some of them returned the favor.
At the front of the chapel, Henry and Indy stepped out with the minister and looked back over their shoulders as bridesmaids began to enter the chapel. Henry smiled at each of them. His smile grew broader when he saw Marcus Brody, former curator of the National Museum and Dean of Students at Marshall College but more importantly a close longtime friend of both Joneses, rushing up to them. Indy was ecstatic to see him as well, but his smile quickly faded when he saw the seventy-year-old man’s condition.
“So sorry I’m late, Indiana,” he said, panting as sweat ran down his ruddy face. “My business took rather longer than expected. And as for these directions you gave me, well, I couldn’t quite make out –”
“Easy, Marcus,” Indy said, putting a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “You shouldn’t have pushed yourself. I’d rather have you late to my wedding than late as in, you know, dead. Get him a glass of water,” he ordered a bystander.
“Rubbish, Indy,” Marcus said, waving him off. “This event is one of the few things I’ve left to live for.”
“You and I both,” said Henry, slapping him on the back. “I’ve been through some marvelous and strange happenings with Junior, but this is one I’d begun to consider impossible.”
“Make up your mind, Dad. You’ve always wanted me to get married, then suddenly you didn’t, now just as suddenly you do. And don’t call me Junior.”
“I only meant –”
“Hello there,” Marcus said to himself as he ogled the bridesmaids, “I do believe my heart is feeling better already.”
“Delightful, aren’t they?” Henry said. “Particularly the one in the middle, if I do say so.”
“I just threw up in my mouth a little,” Indy informed the old men.
In the foyer at the rear of the chapel Elaine nervously straightened her veil as her father, Fred McGregor, looked on. He gave her a peck on the cheek and patted her hand. “Relax,” he said. “You look wonderful.”
She smiled and opened her mouth to say something, but the door in front of them began to open. She gathered her composure and they stepped to the door, but just then the other door, behind them, burst open. A handsome man in his early forties ran in, gasping for breath and on the verge of panic.
Elaine’s smile faded.
From the viewpoint of Indy and his father, she and the man were plainly visible through the door. They could see Elaine shake her head while the man gesticulated wildly about something. The organist glanced at them and continued playing, but exchanged a nervous look with the minister. Elaine was making no move to enter the chapel.
“This is unusual,” Henry said. “An old friend?”
“I don’t know,” Indy said, but a horrible suspicion was coming over him. Dr. Benjamin F. Morganthal?
“See, these are the things a long engagement would point out,” Henry said.
“Dad, you’re getting wound up over nothing,” Indy snapped, but his stomach was tying itself in the knot. The gestures from both her and the man were growing more and more animated by the second.
“Does that look like nothing to you?” Henry hissed. Indy didn’t answer.
“Perhaps she’s double-parked,” Marcus said.
The guests on both sides of the room shifted uncomfortably.
“Perhaps you should go find out what’s going on,” Henry continued.
“Dad,” Indy said, finally turning to face his father, “I’m sure it’s okay. I –”
“Junior! Look!”
Indy’s head snapped around. Elaine’s father was motioning to him from the rear of the chapel. His daughter and the other man were nowhere to be seen. “She’s gone!” Fred yelled, as if they hadn’t noticed.
“Oh dear,” Marcus said.
“I knew you should have found out more about her,” Henry said, but Indy was already rushing up the aisle.
“What do you mean she’s gone?” he demanded.
“He took her!”
That was all Indy needed to hear. He was out the door just in time to see a black sedan roaring off. Behind him he heard Fred yelling about something, but he paid no attention. He looked around and spotted his wedding car with “JUST MARRIED” soaped on the windows and cans hanging off the back. The driver waited beside the car, reading a newspaper.
“Ah, Dr. Jones,” he said as Indy approached, “is something –”
As gently as he could under the circumstances, Indy shoved him aside and jumped behind the wheel. Fortunately the key was in the ignition and he was on the sedan’s trail in moments. It weaved back and forth through the sleepy college town traffic, but he matched its moves perfectly, cans banging on the asphalt behind him.
Soon only one car separated them. Indy pulled off to the right to pass when a truck backed out in front of him. With a curse he slammed on the brakes and cut the wheel, sending his car roaring across campus, cutting down sidewalks and over lawns. Having had some experience with high-speed out-of-control vehicles, he was able to steer while keeping the sedan in the corner of his eye.
Well, mostly. He wasn’t able to keep himself from blasting through a hedge onto the football practice fields. The football team ran for cover, but he had already cut hard to avoid them, endangering instead the band and cheerleaders. They scattered, showering Indy’s car with pom-poms and leaving him a slalom course of expensive brass equipment. One dedicated young lady turned her run for life into a series of cartwheels, distracting him for one vital second that would have been better spent regaining control of the vehicle.
He roared down an embankment onto a lower field where homecoming floats were being prepared and swerved between two, but failed to avoid crashing through the tallest one, a beefeater, taking half the chicken wire and crepe paper with him. His inertia quickly tore it into smaller pieces and left it behind just in time for him to see looming before him two stories of wood being stacked for the homecoming bonfire.
Indy yanked on the wheel yet again and clipped the corner of the pile with a sickening thud. In his rear-view mirror he saw it wobble and collapse as students leaped for cover and he burst through a picket fence onto the street and directly behind the sedan.
“Top that,” he said.
He floored the gas, moving fender to fender with it. He could see Elaine in the front passenger seat, and next to her, the man from the wedding. The man looked back and held an indecipherable look with Indy. Then he slowed down and hit the brakes.
“Damn it!” Indy swerved into a yard once again. He managed to avoid a bed of begonias and bring the car to a stop before it would have smashed through the wall of the house. Through the window, a startled family looked up from their lunch. He gave them a sheepish grin and a wave.
Behind him and out of his view, the black sedan disappeared around the corner and ran up the ramp of a tractor trailer truck. Two men dressed as movers folded up the ramp and closed the doors, which were emblazoned with the name “CAMPUS MOVERS”.
Indy pulled out of the yard and roared around the corner, going straight past the trailer. The “movers” climbed into its cab and drove off. The road ahead was empty. He stopped the car, climbed out and looked around, but Elaine was gone.
Next: Chapter Four
