Marriage Equality

We're approaching the big vote on marriage equality, so I want to point out that there is one perfect portrait of marriage in the picture-book corpus, and it's "Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone."

Marc Brown didn't write this, but the story has Brown's spirit, Brown's interest in twisty plotting. Arthur the aardvark learns that his teacher, Mr. Ratburn, is to marry. A mysterious female, Patty, says Mr. Ratburn needs to choose flowers, and also, Mr. Ratburn is "too soft," in need of "toughening up."

A tougher teacher would mean more homework--so Arthur decides to drive a wedge between Patty and Mr. R. (Surely Patty is the fiancee?) Scheming occurs; plots fail. On the big day, it's revealed that Mr. Ratburn is actually gay, Patty is "The Sister," and Mr. Ratburn's intended is Patrick, the friendly local chocolatier.

Arthur is fine with all this, but he really wishes Mr. Ratburn would make an exit from the dance floor. "Teachers should never dance."

To a brighter day, and a new Supreme Court, somewhere in the calendar.

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