18 September 2012
They all took their carefully arranged seats. Forgach waited until Mária and Cecília entered before closing the heavy oak door and drawing the black curtain. The room was now sent into a subtle darkness, with only the candlelight to illuminate the air and their faces. Forgach made his way purposefully to his seat next to Michael, Anna's husband. Each of those seated round the table had a reason for being there. There need was reflected and understood in their eyes.
Mária, had only known one love in her life, Stefán. There first encounter was at the National Library. He was in his last year at the Lizt Academy and she had returned from Oxford to visit her parents. It was so natural. They began to talk over the researchers table as he noticed the volume she was notating "The Study of Early Christianity". It was spontaneous, the meeting of two brilliant minds, dancing in perfect harmony. He was not intimidated by her independence nor her intellect, in fact quite the opposite. From that day, they spent little time apart, delaying her return to England. They would sit well into the night in his one room apartment in the Pest, drinking Pálinka and discussing his latest piece and her research. He was handsome in her eyes, tall and slight with dark unkempt hair and the most beautiful amber eyes. A permanent cigarette in his hand, the other unconsciously messing with his hair. He lived for music. It was his passion and so was she. She was ten years his senior, but it was irrelevant. They were in love and nothing else mattered. Mária returned to Oxford to complete her post doctorate research. Stefán continued with his studies at the Academy which was now being subsidised by the goulash communists. Music and literature was for all to enjoy not just the upper and middle classes. Life was good despite the restrictions. It was June, three days before her return that she heard the news. He was shot leaving a their favourite cafe by the river. It was an accident, caught in the crossfire of a revolutionary attack. Mária's world ended.
~The Gathering #8~. ~Part 8~ • Opuss № I