Her Dreams

"When I gwow up, I wanna be a pwincess!"

"You know you'll never be able to do that," the teacher scoffed, shaking his head at the little girl, as teardrops rolled serenely down her nose.

"But you said we cood be anyfing," she sniffled, wiping her eyes.

"Well, you can't be a princess, you can't change the world. You're only a kindergartener, you need to learn you can't change the world."


--

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" She shot her head away from her doodle-ridden notepad, pulling her pen away from the flourishing stories spun from her delicate hands and brilliant mind.

"I want to be a princess, valued not only for her beauty and grace, but her smartness, and for making a difference in the world."

"You'll be in middle school in a couple months, you do know you'll never be a princess, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know," she sighs, picking back up her wand, her pen, her helper, her one companion, and coaxing vivacious stories from it.

--

"Seeing as you're all ready for college in just a year or so from today, what do you want to do as adults? How about you, the girl in the back?"

She turns away from her laptop, fingers leaving the keyboard to brush her dyed blue hair from her face, and pick at the long dark, sleeves of her dress, where they go over the hems of her beloved gloves.

"I want to be a princess, with friends who care about me, and to be respected."

The class laughs, and the teacher disguises her laughter as a cough. "That's, um, interesting, thank you.

--

"Tell us, you've been nicknamed 'The Crown Princess of Literature', how did that come to be? I mean, you've changed thousands of lives, inspired millions, why?"

"As a kid, ever since I was a little girl, I always said I wanted to be a princess who changed the world, and was always told that was impossible. In college, I found a group of true friends who respected and supported me, and helped me get published, and now, even if I'm not really royalty, I consider my dreams fulfilled."

The reporter smiles, and offers the teary eyes woman a tissue. "Anything you want to tell your fans?"

"No matter what your dreams are, or what anyone else says about them, if you work hard, you can make them come true."