Mirabel’s been hard to pin down lately.
Then suddenly she changed. This marriage idea.”
Did he blush or blanch? I couldn’t
See clearly in the darkening light but
His throat trembled raw
With pent emotion.
My face must have betrayed
My distaste
Because he hurried to explain.
“She’s been trying to
Talk me into seeing her family.
A wedding to erase her
Great Silence. I thought we were
Two avatars alone. I imagined
A woman to stand with me against the world.”
How rich, I thought, literally,
For a man with a title based on family
To disown that very concept.
But to quarrel seemed
Perfidious, and once again,
The youngest person in the room
I was silenced and shamed.
He leaned back in his chair
As beef wellington arrived.
“I’m amazed you existed, frankly.
I thought the little sister
Was another of her stories.
Kudos to your parents.”
I stared nauseated
At beef wellington –
Perhaps I’m vegan after all.
This party made me gag.
“I’m so glad you’re you,
Just like her but so
Unspoiled.”
Never had a compliment
Felt more like an insult.
What kind of talk was this from
A prospective groom?
And any idea that my parents “made” me
Is creepy and revolting.
“Mirabel and I are opposites,” I stressed
Too angrily before I considered.
“How can THAT be?”
He was smug. Superior.
I schooled him.
“She cares what others think and
I just don’t.”
That should have stopped him but –
It didn’t. He smiled
Indulgently.
“Sisterhood is powerful.
I see she’s got “the drop”
On me,” he emphasized the slang
Like any English lord raised on
American movies.
Unable to be me;
Unable to read him,
Know him, change him.
Is this the dawning of
Despair? It makes me hate
The grown-up world.
Alysse Aallyn 