A memory stirred ...

A memory stirs. It comes from somewhere forgotten. The memory looms closer until the light shines upon it, thus banishing it from the darkness.

How long will it stay? Should I let the memory go or encourage my conscious to explore the scene now illuminated?

A boy and a girl sit alone in a sunlit room, each reading a book.

Feelings of companionship circulate and warm my body. I decide to let it stay with me. I am comfortable now to explore ...

They glance occasionally at each other and smile; there is no need to talk. This is a special moment. They can hear the world going along on its usual business outside. Somehow they find themselves in a time capsule, where even the hands of the noisy clock upon the wall seem to have slowed.

The connection between the boy and girl has been evident before now, but neither of them realised its depth until this moment.

Other memories are trying to enter the spotlight now. They are a mixture of new and old, and threaten to sabotage the clarity of the first memory. The peace has been shattered. Yet, I am not ready to give up -- I decide to shut the door on the other memories and drift back to the room from fifteen years ago ...

Who is this girl? I cannot recognise her. She is full of self-doubt and criticism, yet there is an abundance of hope and enthusiasm that she has for the future. What a contradiction. She is yet to understand herself and trust that she can face the world around her without a mask.

And what of the boy? Who was he back then? I cannot get a clear feeling about him. He seems closed off from the emotional world. He is so different from the man he has now become.

It is almost time to leave ... The shadows of the present are falling over them, casting different feelings and memories between the boy and the girl.

Neither the boy nor the girl knew the connection was more than friendship. Both of them had someone back "home" in the world far beyond the one they worked in every day for weeks at a time. It took them some six months to disentangle themselves from their previous lives in order to be free to unite as a couple in love.