The Mirror

Chapter One-October, 1974-The start

Picture of a 1970's teenage girl who is scared of a mirror; and David Essex's cult 1974 song 'Rock On', in the MEDIA SECTION to the right, tribute to 50's icon James Dean.

Warning: It is rated PG for adult themes. You must be 13 years and over to hear it.

***

We began to know why Nixon resigned.

He was a criminal.

Watergate became the reason America lost its innocence. The state of my country went downhill when he fought JFK in '60.

By the early 70's, Mom and Dad, (who were both English Teachers), were too conservative to know about dark things that crept up on you and tore your flesh.

They worked hard; they married young; they loved each other until they retired aged 66 to Florida, the retirement city of America.

***

I was born in 1954 when Senator Joe McCarthy ruined everyone by saying that everyone were Communists.

And, when I grew up, the 1950's ended...and the swinging sixties arrived. Yet, for all of the progress, that decade also ruined us.

Sex, assassinations, and freedoms, stymied us.

By 1970, I was dating my now husband, Roy. He was normal; I was normal. We kissed during the horror movie double features at Joy's Drive-In.

And we decided to pass graduation in 1972, 1973. When they happened, we saved money for a home for ourselves.

And, in Lower Manhattan, the city that never sleeps was full of crime. And death. And more. What I meant was, in spite of the insanity, I loved old things: candles; Middle Eastern rugs; kitschy stuff that only was popular at garage sales; and psychedelic robes that was only good for the communes which dominated Woodstock in '69.

And, for me, a young woman growing up when Vietnam, civil rights, and the KKK were murdering black people in Mississippi, (and other Southern states), coursed through our psyche, (since RFK was also assassinated, as well as the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., in '68), fuelled the horror that was the genesis of what was to come.

***

1974 was very tumultuous.

The groovy decade of the'60 was replaced by the corrupt 1970's. You decided that Charles Bronson would kill everyone in 'Death Wish', because thugs killed his wife and traumatised his teenage daughter, who was placed in a mental hospital.

That was before the weirdness happened at the Rummage Sale.

And our terror started when I saw The Mirror.

***

The Mirror was on a shaggy carpet. It was recently lacquered; it was covered up with new lava lamps, which glowed in the darkness.

Because I arrived with Roy on October 5, 1974, at precisely 9:00 AM, the early sun's rays hit our face; our eyes adjusted to the rays, as other young hippie couples moved around like they wanted and needed cheap stuff for their communes.

"You know, babe, we're lucky", Roy smiled.

"You want to listen to the radio?", I asked.

"Not yet. We're shopping". I wrapped my arms around my husband's waist, and kissed him. We'd concentrate on our future later.

In the interim, our future wasn't making love...it was getting all of the essential things for life: chairs; tables; kitchen items; knives; forks; cultery; and other items of interest. We saw the Kierchers getting a lamp; we saw the Brugets getting a small fireplace, (without the grille-that was extra); we saw the Mawsons getting a psychedelic rug; we saw the Bohmers getting a color TV..."Hello...", we said to them; "Hello, nice day for a bargain"; "Yes; yes, it is", I said.