Between You & Me - By Marisa Calin Page 0,9

moment before she speaks again. She is my visual image, pictures of the possibilities of our imagined friendship spiraling through my head as I look at her.

MIA

Sense memory can evoke physical sensations and conditions. When we’re offered a drink, we subconsciously recall taste to make a choice. We think of a place we love and we can see and smell it, even if just for a split second. This requires your imagination!

She invites us onto the stage and we collect in a circle. Realizing my eyes are still on her, I blush, remembering what she said in our first class, that our physical life speaks for itself. I try to relax, nervous about what my subconscious might tell people that I’ve not given it permission to tell. Around Mia, I feel like a ball of luminous energy. I can still picture Grace flirting on the opposite side of the courtyard—obvious just from how she was standing. Tell me I’m not that transparent. Mia pushes her sleeves up her elegant arms and asks for a sensory state.

ELLE

Cold.

MIA

Circle the stage as though it’s cold.

We set off, briskly.

Remember a time when you were really cold. Imagine exactly how it felt and how you responded. Feel your toes starting to ache, your fingers turning numb, your knees shivering, your shoulders hunching.

I ball up my fists and cross my arms, tucking in my hands and my chin to stay warm. The wind is picking up, she says. People have turned up their collars and are bracing themselves against the imaginary chill.

After a few minutes, Mia relaxes, tells us it’s summer. From the corner of my eye I see Ryan unbuttoning the collar of his shirt.

MIA

Close your eyes. Feel the heat of the sun on your face. Smell the summer air, the fresh-cut grass. Hear the birds singing, a lawn mower in the distance. Imagine that you’re standing in bare feet, there’s grass between your toes. Feel it—moist and cool.

I start to feel the grass beneath me.

Step from the grass onto a picnic blanket. It gives softly under your feet. You sit down.

She tells us now to lie down where we are and get comfortable. I settle on my back, closing my eyes again as people move about me.

MIA

That’s right, Phy. Close your eyes, everyone.

She called me Phy. It sounded beautiful. I don’t open my eyes but I imagine her looking at me. She waits for everyone to settle and when she speaks again her voice is soothing:

You’re lying on the blanket in the warm sun, your eyelids glowing, everything quiet except the birds singing. Just in your imagination, reach out and run your hands through the grass, catching it between your fingers. You pluck a buttercup and rub the soft petals between your fingertips. Sit up in your imagination and see the picnic spread beside you on the blanket. Take a strawberry from the tub and bite into it. The sweet juice runs down your chin, you wipe it away. Have a sip of the icy lemonade, tart and cold, the beads of water on the bottle cool and wet in your hand. Your eyes are getting heavy in the bright sun. Someone sits down on the blanket beside you …

She goes on and, guided by her voice, I’m carried away, beyond grass and sounds on a warm day. She’s the one there on the blanket beside me, the reality of her voice colliding with the pictures playing in my head. When she tells us to open our eyes, I’m slow to let in the light. The stage seems blindingly bright and we sit up as though we’ve spent the duration of class somewhere else. I catch sight of you beside me—I didn’t realize you were lying so close. We get to our feet. Mia’s voice is quiet, almost a whisper. See you next time, she says.

She stands at the door when we leave class. Some days she says my name when I pass her. Every day I wait and see if I’m a simple good-bye, or if it’s “Bye, Phyre.” “Phyre” changes my day. We’re reaching the door as she hushes us.

MIA

It’s the theater trip next month. I’m running a scene-study class every Tuesday at lunch to read the play we’re seeing. Come along if you’re interested.

Interested? I drop my gaze to hide any visible sign of the excitement she’s ignited dancing behind my eyes. They’re still giving me away as I tuck in behind you and Kate at the door. Mia smiles at