she's got blood in her eyes, in her eyes for you.

♦ Avram Silva and Edda Meyer met when their worlds quite literally collided in a match up at a pick-up volleyball game on packed beach near Coney Island in the summer of 1978. Avram, a student of pharmecology who was three credits shy of degree completion, instantly impressed Edda with his humor and dedication to hard work. Edda had worked for her father at the family's fine chocolate store in Williamsburg, an establishment Avram had visited with his family, despite never talking to the busy girl behind the counter. It all came together in a very fateful collision and not a year later they were married, with Edda expecting their first child in late 1980. Their first born was a son they named Ronald, nicknamed Ronnie.

♦ Much changed in the three years between Ronnie's arrival and the day Edda was overjoyed to find out she was pregnant again. Edda's father sought retirement and offered the business to her, hoping it would remain in the family and loyal to its patrons. Edda took the business over, but realized her passion for the product was not as strong as her dedication to providing a quality service for the neighborhood. Together, she and Avram closed the chocolate shop and reopened as Silva's Drugs, one of the few family-owned pharmacies Duane Reade has yet to push out of the neighborhood. One month after the grand opening, Edda's morning sickness she experienced with her first pregnancy came back, and without taking a test, she knew by the craving for Thai food that she was expecting again.

♦ Vivien Charlotte Silva was born April 4, 1983. A final child for the Silva's, a little sister for Viv, came two years later to round out their family. One of the rare natives to South Williamsburg, Viv used all of Brooklyn as her childhood playground, often hitting the park with her older brother's supervision after school. Sitting still in a pharmacy wasn't her idea of a fun time, but in an liberal age where the parental guidance of two full-time business owners was lax, the children made their own fun.

♦ Viv's older brother, Ronnie, had no real aim in life, didn't seem to mind spending his days getting high and eating cereal, and could always be counted on to ruin everyone's favorite moment. When he found out about his leaky heart valve that somehow landed him on disability and further supplied ammo to his argument for getting high all day, every day, Viv allowed him to crash on the couch of her and Ben's in their run-down Las Vegas abode, where the door was left unlocked for one less thing potential thieves wouldn't break. His indefinite stay was cut short two weeks later when he invested the only money he had saved in a pyramid scheme for vitamin-fused energy drinks. The plus side? He didn't sell any of the supply he bought, and due to his heart, could not drink the caffeine. Viv and Ben spent two weeks in Rasta Paradise.

♦ After high school, Viv decided to expand her horizons, since the world was much bigger than Brooklyn. She moved to Las Vegas to attend UNLV for Social Sciences, a degree she could have easily obtained at any east coast city. However, that would defeat her point of exploration. Viv realized it was a pointless degree in her post-graduate job search, when she was eating ramen noodles for breakfast, lunch, and dinner again. Desperate to find her footing without asking for help from her mother and father, she took a job as a performer under an illusionist she'd met during college. The show made it big, to a headlining act at MGM Grand, with Viv weaseling her way along as if she'd been appearing in sealed tanks of water her entire life. She worked the show for seven years until it ended in 2012. Relocating to New York in the same year, she took a job under another illusionist and no, she won't share the secrets with you.

♦ Her sexuality has always been the blatantly obvious elephant in the room. Viv came out to her family when she was seventeen, met with "it's about time," and words of encouragement from everyone. The day continued like any other. Viv's first love came with a civil war era belt buckle to her fifteenth birthday party, a last minute gift the girl's grandfather had given her and one that Viv still has to this day. In fact, since then, her entire collection has grown. By the next year's birthday party, they were ditching out early to fill 7-11 slushies with part vodka and get lost in each other and the city for the rest of the night.

♦ Currently living in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Spends her time there and in Manhattan when she has shows, but has a strong tendency to bounce back to Williamsburg to hang with old friends or family.