Her mother expressly forbid her to lift weights. It would stop her menstrual cycle, she claimed.It did. Genevieve “Veevi” did not get her period until she was twenty years old because of her workouts.

Hank was told not to dance ballet by his father for reasons that seemed more obvious–to his father, at least. But Hank joined a ballet class anyway. And then his father died. Died laughing after his son invited him to his first ballet recital.

It was at Hank’s father’s funeral that Hank and Veevi met. They were both twenty. They knew each other, vaguely, as children until they switched schools, Hank of the parochial variety and Veevi of the secular one. This all happened in the 80s, when the way their appearances worked against them. Veevi so muscular and tall. Hank’s lithe, rangy limbs.

After the eulogy, there was some sort of reception, in an adjacent hall. Outside summer had just begun, and birds flung themselves and their songs at each, all in the hopes of mating.

While Veevi and Hank bumped into each other at the buffet table. They made small talk. Which was all that was needed, when one fell in love. The sound of birds was enough to fill those long silences between them as they grabbed food, their arms accidentally hitting each other.