Thomas Mulroe

Sometimes obsession, like a great love, lasts a lifetime...

Some Reunions Are Meant To Happen, Like It Or Not...

Thirty Years Ago:

Almost instantly, she knew that she loved him. The first moment she saw him, as he eased across the classroom to a seat not too far from her, an energy sparked between them for Marlene Stevens. Even though she did not know his name she knew that she was seeing her future husband...

Today:

From the hallway she can see him teaching a class. The door is open enough for her to hear his voice. Her heart l...ifts as she is back thirty years ago when they were both students in college, walking these very hallways together. The college students in his class do not seem interested in Willa Cather's classic 'O Pioneers' he is talking about. She remembers when he did not know a thing about literature. He had no interest in it. She taught him to love the great works. She taught him about the passion of the written word. Did he remember that? As he stood teaching did he recall that it was her who had opened the world of literature for him? She introduced him to it all. After class she considers walking into the room. How nice would it be for him to look up from the desk he stood over now, recognition in his eyes then softening his face as he said her name. ' Marlene, I wondered when you and I would see each other again. How have you been? The years have treated you well.' No, he would not say those things if she stepped into the room with him and closed the door--not after what happened the last time they saw each other. Today is Valentine's Day. They are being given another chance...

Outside, he is stopped by students several times as he crosses campus. They surround him with their conversation, those young faces so eager to show him that they know something. A bit of snow drops from the sky, too light to really see. He nods and grins, holding his briefcase with a beautiful long black wool dress coat folded over his arm. Light snowflakes dot his dark pin-striped suit jacket. The red tie he wears against a crisp white cotton dress shirt stands out against the gray backdrop of bleak winter sky. Finally, his black wingtips scrape the pavement of the parking lot as he approaches his BMW. Marlene follows him for their Valentine's Day Reunion...
. They are together again. His silent, gagged, face is turned away from her. I have come back to Saint Edwards for him, Marlene Stevens tells herself, because nobody warned me against it...

So begins an obsessive love that will travel the roads of time more than thirty years until Marlene Stevens-- the 'Lover'-- and her 'Beloved' are together again in a fateful reunion...