Mirror Me

by Lisa Williamson Rosenberg

As I lack both substance and voice, this performance only enhances Eddie’s perceived derangement, frightening more fellow travelers.

He does not know my name. To Eddie, I am still You or The Other.

All along, at least since our adulthood, I’ve been able to determine when to take over, whether I am present with Eddie or not.

He’s here too—The Other—who takes over whenever he wants, who hurts people I love—loved—most.

Pär. Pronounced like the fruit: pear. It’s Swedish, the name our birth mother chose for us.”

We were not always at odds, Eddie and I.

I came to be inside the womb along with him, then took my current form when he was just a few hours old, at the end of the surgery, when things were being tidily stitched up.

It was not until he was six years old that I came forward.

There was nothing like being part of a we. I would always fall for that.