Once upon a time in a far away place, far away from anything, there lived a man and a woman. His name was Johann and hers was Elise. Johann had white skin and Elise’s was brown. This didn’t matter in the beginning, but over time, it would, first in small ways, tiny little cracks, and then in ways they could no longer ignore. Johann first saw Elise in a smoke filled room, and decided he wanted her, wanted to know the taste of her brown skin, wanted to run his hands over the soft curves of her ample body. Elise didn’t believe him. She didn’t believe in fairy tales or herself or much of anything. Johann chased her and chased her and finally, she let him take her to dinner because she was hungry. Elise let him have a drink at her house because she was lonely. She let him touch her because she was another kind of hungry. She lay with him and enjoyed the meat of his body against hers, how his rough hands held her sweetly, how his lips brushed her shoulder. Johann brought her pleasure and she brought him pleasure and after, he lay next to her, breathing heavy. Elise thanked him. She told him to leave. He did so but vowed to return, ignoring her protests.
Johann sent Elise a beautiful bouquet of fragrant wildflowers. She called and said thank you and please don’t do that again but she set the flowers on the coffee table in her living room and smiled at them each day. He continued to call and sometimes she answered and they talked about all manner of things. Johann persisted in his pursuit and Elise finally relented and accompanied him to more dinners and sometimes, they had drinks and sometimes they saw moving pictures and she always let him spend the night. Soon, Elise had forgotten there ever was a time when she didn’t want Johann around.
The man was so different. Elise often worried he was too different. Johann worked with his hands and had never been beyond the borders of the far away place far from anything. He knew things about the stars and the position of the sun. He knew about secret waterfalls in the heart of the deep woods and he showed them to her, let her drink that cool clean water from his rough, calloused hands. Elise worked with her mind and sometimes her heart. She knew about words and spent her days studying books. She spoke different languages and had traveled to lands across oceans and further even still. She longed to be closer to places where she could find bright lights and crowded streets and where once in a while she might see someone who looked like her. But Elise had a job to do and studies to complete. She would bide her time. Johann and Elise knew little of the same things but he knew how to touch her and how to press his lips to her neck and how to hold her as she slept and if all that mattered was the moments shared between them, they could have easily found a happily ever after.
There were, however, other things that mattered. Johann had a wicked mother who lived in a grand house high on a hill. She kept an extravagant garden and enjoyed receiving visitors in a large living room filled with large, imposing furniture. The wicked mother scowled more than she smiled. The wicked mother thought her son a king and wanted nothing but the best for her oldest boy. She did not think Elise was any kind of good enough and she let that be known throughout the land. Elise brought Johann’s wicked mother gifts and kind words. She said please and thank you and when invited to dinner, ...comment for part 2