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MARY AND CASSIE

TOGETHER FOREVER AND NEVER APART
MAYBE BY DISTANCE BUT NEVER BY HEART

BY
CAIREEN KELLEY

ISBN 978-0-9561884-5-8

Chapter 1

    In 1970 Ireland celebrated its first-ever Eurovision Song Contest victory when Dana won the Eurovision Song contest with “All Kinds of Everything”.
    In the same year two sisters – Helen Sheridan and Anne O’Connor – gave birth to daughters in the same hospital and on the very same day, a sunny day in May. These baby girls were named Mary and Cassandra.
    Helen used to tell Cassandra the story about her birth several times.
    “When your Dad came home that day, George was just about to take Anne to hospital, because her labours had started. Not even one hour later, when I was on my way to the kitchen to prepare some tea, I felt you moving in my womb and I instinctively knew that it was time to go to hospital. You had been such a calm foetus during my whole pregnancy, so I knew that there was more behind it this time.”
    “And was there more behind it Mum?” Cassandra asked curiously, cuddling up at the couch beside her mother.
    “Yes, the labours started just when your Dad parked the car. I needed his help to get out of the car and to walk the few steps to the hospital entrance. While he filled in the form, I was rushed into the delivery room. Anne was just about to give birth to Mary, when I came in. You’re not even an hour apart.”
    So only the fifty minutes that Mary is older than Cassandra prevent the two girls from being chronological twins. They’ve been friends as long as they can imagine, probably since they were born.
    The girls really acted like Siamese twins, as they hardly did anything without the other. Usually they celebrated their birthdays together – either at Cassandra’s place or at Mary’s. And although they were not at all looking like twins – Mary had red shoulder long curly hair, green eyes and lots of freckles, while Cassandra had long brown hair, which she usually wore plaited, grey eyes like her maternal grandmother and a rather pale skin – their relationship was almost as close as twin sisters.

    The Eurovision Song Contest 1974 won by ABBA performing “Waterloo” was a musical turning point for the two cousins. It was around that time when they both developed the desire to learn how to play an instrument. About one year after they started school, both girls started to take flute lessons, but switched to different instruments after a while.
    Mary had piano lessons while Cassie learned to play the Violin. They used to make music together, sometimes their parents would join them and sometimes they were on their own.

    In 1979 the music film Grease came into the cinemas.
    On a warm summer day Mary and Cassandra took part in a children’s music competition in Cork.
    As it was a wonderful sunny day it was an open-air festival. The participants performed either solo or in pairs. Mary and Cassie had trained their piece of music – “Danny Boy” – for weeks and they were both very nervous. The following conversation with their parents took place just before the concert.
Mary said: “I’m so nervous, what if I forget the notes or what if I throw up?”
    Cassandra tried to smile at her, while her whole body was trembling.
    George replied: “Well, if you forget the notes, the people will think that one of you messed it up. The chance is fifty to fifty that they think you messed it up.”
    He grinned. Anne slapped his shoulder gently.
    “Don’t you worry, girls, you’ll be fine!” she said.
    And Helen added enthusiastically: “You’re going to win!”
    Cassandra had her Mum’s words in the back of her head all the time and so did Mary. The girls went out and delivered what their parents considered to be a really good performance, then waited nervously backstage. A big man in a tuxedo called the winners for each age group. The girls had performed in the age group eight to nine. As they were announced as the winners, none of them could really believe it.
These were the words of the big guy in the tuxedo: “It is really difficult to top such a wonderful performance like the one our winners delivered that day. Please welcome back on stage: Mary and Cassandra!”
    Obviously the jury thought of their performance to be the best one.
Mary and Cassie then walked out then hand in hand, pale and shaking while the whole audience was applauding and cheering. Their Mum’s were both crying – their daughters could clearly see that from the stage.
    Logically they celebrated with their families and the parents had one more reason to be proud of their girls.

    The Sheridan’s had been living at the same address, the right half of a semi-detached house, since their marriage. The O’Connor’s lived in the other half of the house. It was a really lovely house, a red brick one-storey house with a small green at the front and a big garden at the back. The house of the Sheridan’s had a garage at the right side of the house, while the house of Mary’s family had the garage on the left side. The bedroom of Helen and Joseph had a small balcony and so had the bedroom of Anne and George. Mary’s and Cassandra’s rooms overlooked the garden, both rooms furnished exactly the same and held in pink until the girls grew older and started to develop their own tastes.
    They were both sporty and creative, loved swimming or cycling as well as singing or playing an instrument. Mary was also a very good painter.
    No shadow hung over that little paradise until the girls were ten years old.

Published by Turner Maxwell Books

First published 2009.

Copyright © Caireen Kelley 2009

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in a retrieval system in any form or by any means without permission in writing by Caireen Kelley or Turner Maxwell Books.

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The purchase of this book is a private sale between the reader and the publisher; at no stage will indemnity be claimed against the publisher. The moral right of the author has been asserted.

Warning: Not suitable for children

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental and may be more the work of your own imagination. Why not write a book yourself? Turner Maxwell Books are an alternative co-operative of new writers, working towards publishing inspirational literature.

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