Plot:
Sofia was painfully shy as a child. They called her condition selective mutism. She tells the reader that when someone would come up to her and her mom when they were out walking, she’d dart behind her mom’s legs. Her dolls and stuffed toys were her friends, but she wasn’t lonely. They had lovely tea parties, played princess, and planned her wedding to Prince Charming.
Nevertheless, the school principal threatened expulsion if her parents didn’t take her to a therapist.
“Thank God for that, because therapy changed my life,” Sofia tells the reader.
Thoughts:
The happily ever after story can’t be all that is sound like, of course. This is handled so deftly that even though the reader knows it’s coming, it’s hard to see. Only in re-reading can the subtle clues noticed.
I don’t know whether the author intended this or not, but this brief tale speaks of the difficulty of bringing fairy tale romances to real life. A friend of mine once asked, “Why can’t it ever be like it is in the books?” This story, I think, reflects that, at least in part.
I liked this sad little tale.
Bio:
According to her blurb, author Peggy Gerber is a poet and science fiction writer from New Jersey. She is also a co-founder of Champagne Writers.
The story can be read here.
Title: “Dreams Do Come True”
Author: Peggy Gerber
First published: Daily Science Fiction, February 24, 2020
Reviews of Old and New Stories. Mostly Old 