American Notes AIDS

Ricky Ray wants to marry his 16-year-old sweetheart. That's a little young to tie the knot -- but then Ricky is only 14. Normally, says his mother Louise, she would "kick his butt" and tell him to wait. But Ricky is not normal: he has AIDS and probably not much time to live. "I don't know if I'll live two weeks, two months, two years or 100 years," he says. "I just want to spend the rest of my time with the girl I love."

The girl he loves, Wenonah Lindberg, says they plan to learn about safe sex * and will abstain from intercourse. Her parents have given their blessing to a Dec. 13 wedding in Texas, where 14-year-olds can legally marry. "She has a better chance of contracting HIV from dating than with Ricky," says her mother Debbie. "If she does, it's God's will." Adds Ricky's father: "All we want is for him to be happy."

Ricky, one of three hemophiliac brothers thought to have contracted AIDS from tainted blood, wants Wenonah to share in a $1.4 million settlement his family won in 1987 from a Florida school district that barred the boys from classes. But Wenonah is hardly marrying for money: Ricky gets just $300 a month for 10 years.