Free The Siege by Darrell Maloney Page A

on the marriage license?”
         “Oh, Mark… just shut up and kiss me.”
         Sometime later Mark walked over to the security console, where John was watching the monitors and cleaning two of the AR-15 rifles.
         “Sorry I missed the meeting, John. Anything good?”
         “No, not really. We just had a debate on when we wanted to do our next move.”
         “What did we decide?”
         “WE decided to do it tonight, if there’s no moon. If there’s a moon, we’ll go the first night there isn’t one.”
         “Sounds good. I’ll be ready at midnight.”
     
         Mark walked over to the kitchen area and grabbed three MREs. He took them to Bay 8, where Hannah and little Markie were snuggling on a couch watching Hannibal and the Little Princess .
         “Hey, you two. Spaghetti and meatballs, pork patty or beef stew?”
         Little Markie said, “Daddy, shush. I’m trying to hear.”
         Mark sat on the other side of Hannah and put the MREs in her lap. She looked at him with a mild look of amusement, and whispered, “Yes. Shush. This is the best part.”
         Mark just shook his head. But he did indeed shush as they watched a seven year old boy on the screen turn beet red as a seven year old girl kissed him on the cheek and said she loved him.
         Markie announced loudly to both of them, “Okay. You can talk now.”
         Hannah laughed and said, “Well, thank you, little sailor. Why was that part of the movie so special that we couldn’t talk?”
         “Oh, Mommy. That’s when my girlfriend says she loves me. Well, she doesn’t say it to me. But she will someday.”
         “Pamela what's-her-name is your girlfriend?”
         “Mason, Mom! Pamela Mason!”
         Little Markie grew exasperated.
         “And she’s not my girlfriend yet. But she will be when we meet, but before we get married. I told you that.”
         Mark gave Hannah an inquisitive look. Hannah just shrugged and said, “Well, okay then.”
         Mark asked , “Son, why do you want this girl to be your girlfriend?”
         “Because she’s pretty, just like Mommy. And I’ll bet she’s soft and smells good, just like Mommy. And her hair is never messed up and I’m old enough to have a girlfriend, aren’t I?”
         “I guess. But I think this movie was made in Hollywood.”
         “What’s Hollywood?”
         “It’s a city far, far away.”
         “Is it farther than the ocean?”
         “Well, as a matter of fact, it’s right by an ocean.”
         “Good. Is there a beach at the ocean? You said you’d try to take me to the beach and to the ocean.”
         Neither Hannah or Mark knew where he was going with this.
         “Well, yes, there are some very nice beaches right next to Hollywood. Why?”
         “Because you guys said you would try to take me to the ocean and to the beach someday. So we can just call Pamela and she can meet us there and then we can be married. On the beach. And she can kiss me and tell me she loves me, just like she did to Hannibal in the movie.”
         “But what if she already loves Hannibal in the movie?”
         “Oh, she really doesn’t.”
         “But how do you know?”
         “Because she’s my girlfriend. She has to love me. ”
         Markie’s cousins, Robin and Sandy, came by and asked if he wanted to go to the playground to play. He said, “Sure!” and was off like a shot.
         “Mark, I’m worried about him sometimes. Should we talk to him seriously about his crush on Pamela Mason?”
         “Why?”
         “Because she’d probably dead. And even if she isn’t, she’s in her twenties now. This movie is fifteen years old. And I never promised him we’d take him to the ocean. I said we would try. And I was thinking somewhere way closer than Hollywood. Like maybe Padre Island in the Gulf of