A Song of Air
Life was a series of routines, and Sunday was the worst day of the week. Each new year, I would check what day Christmas fell on. If it were a Sunday it meant we did not have to go to church twice in one week and the whole year felt better.
I wanted sex or God, or both, but sex was forbidden and God was good, was church, where I sat each week looking at the back of the men in front of me, whose neck had skin like a chicken plucked, and puckered, and old. Almost every Sunday evening after tea we’d watch movies. We saw ourselves growing up, laughing at fashion changes and private jokes, and above all, had Dad’s image of family life re-inforced. To find my own vision, I had to reject yours and test myself to find out what I was made of. Out of love you tried to prevent my pain, but your safety is like suffocation.
– Merilee Bennett
Description Source: Cinenova Catalogue (1994). Edited by Kate Norrish. Editorial committee: Elaine Burrows, Liane Harris, Helen de Witt