20 June 2012
Chapter 1
Her name was Mariah William, and she was the love of my life. I would call her Mary, but she hated it. She told me it reminded her of her mother, Mary Anna-beth. There's so much I could tell you about Mariah, but you probably wouldn't have the time... Let me start with the time we first met.
It was February 10th 1966. My auntie Clara was having her birthday party. Auntie was good friends with the William's so of course Mariah had to come. I was carrying my plate of food, I still remember it, butter cream cake with Greek salad, and I had banged into Mariah, spilling all my food on her. She was furious, but once our eyes met she smiled. "Hello, for a second there I thought you were a boy," those were her first words to me. "No, of course not! If I was, mum wouldn't have named me Alexia!" "I'm Mariah- But then her mother had grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away. We were 18 years old at the time, young and looking for love.
You see Mariah came from a rich family, and lesbianism was forbidden. I had no hope of making Mariah mine forever.
My worries soon vanished by the time we went to college. We had gone to the same college, Surrey Valley college. We would come back home to Burwood for the holidays. One autumn evening, I was about to confess my love to Mariah. As I walked to her house (we were neighbours) my mum had given me a letter. I read the letter with dread. It was Mariah's wedding invitation.
The Silent Pause • Opuss № I