The Hidden Path (WINNER OF THE BEAUTY AWARD for Spiritual)

It's In The Stars

A day without laughter is a day wasted
- Unknown

The 6th of April happens to be an interesting day. Apart from the fact that it's my birthday. Which, of course, makes it quite special to me. . .

It also has the tendency to fall around Easter. When I was born, for instance, it happened to be on Easter Sunday. My Mum claims that it was the best Easter Sunday of her life, while I am not so sure I entirely trust this statement. After all, she had to suffer through painful labor for hours, on a day when she was supposed to be celebrating and relaxing. On top of it, I had decided to enter into the world arena in the small hours of the morning. Which must have been quite the traumatic experience for baby-me and probably the reason why I was never again quite as enthusiastic about getting up early. . .

I do remember at least two other Easter Sundays falling on my birthday, but I also recall having to suffer through a Good Friday on my special day! Which meant: no birthday cake or sweets of any kind for me, as Mum was still extremely serious about our Christian traditions in those days! (I got them the next day. My parents were not that cruel. . .) For the little child I was at that time, however, this was still a major tragedy (. . .and to add insult to injury, they call it 'Good Friday'. . .)!

Anyway, that year my birthday fell on Holy Saturday, meaning: no school for me (or anybody else in Austria)!

As a matter of fact, the whole week had been a long-awaited school-holiday, which, of course, we all thoroughly enjoyed.

Beni had arrived before noon, wanting to spend as much time with me on my special day as he possibly could. Which caused all kinds of mixed feelings to erupt in my stomach every now and then, if I was honest.

By way of greeting, Beni had kissed me deeply, before handing me my present: a pair of long earrings, consisting of an about five centimeters long, delicate silver chain with a round, turquoise stone dangling from the end.

I was surprised by his thoughtful gift. Something so beautiful, but at the same time so simple. . .

I threw my arms around him, rewarding him with another kiss as a thank you.

When we broke apart, I marveled once again at the fact that I had become so familiar with him. There was no awkwardness between us, only easygoing closeness. Even, or maybe especially, when we were fighting. . .

Looking at him briefly as he turned around to head out of the door, I was again assaulted by the sudden sensation of being encaged, but that feeling was far from as stifling as it had been during the first few months. Beni had definitely developed into someone I implicitly trusted. To the point where he almost felt like my. . . brother. . .?

"Let's go upstairs!" Beni's voice shook me out of my reverie, while the boy himself was almost halfway up the stairs by the time his words registered.

"Hello, Mrs. Reiter!"

"Oh, hello Beni!"

Over the last few months, Mum had slowly surrendered to the fact that Beni was likely to remain in my life for the foreseeable future and had started treating him with her usual generous hospitality.

Not only him, either. Our whole gang had started to gather more and more frequently at my place, since Mum never failed to provide the whole lot of us with food (an obviously rather important part of life for teenage boys) and (non alcoholic) drinks. . .

I hurriedly went after my boyfriend, in case he decided to somehow make another one of his improper remarks. As he seemed to be so fond of doing. . .

Today would be a really bad day for a slip of the tongue!

Fortunately, he seemed to be on his best behavior and after a few moments of chatting with Mum, he sat down on one of the two plastic chairs on the terrace of my parents' house. I went up to the balustrade, which ran along the left side and half of the front edge of the stone-tiled floor, and rested my lower arms on the blue, flat metal rail. Tilting my head towards the surprisingly warm sun, I reveled in the feeling of its rays on my face and on my bare arms.