Member-only story
A Grimm Fairy Tale
How Can People Be So Heartless?
We met once upon a time on some singles site. Her picture was blurry and small, but she seemed to be interested in me because I’m a writer, not just any kind of writer, but one who has dabbled in the genre of the fantastic. She sent me her Instant Messenger ID, and within minutes we were “chatting.” Her conversation was lively and she babbled incessantly about gargoyles and goblins, and the literature of Tolkien. She said she had a special place in her heart for hobbits and the dragons they slew to save the world from evil, and she interspersed her comments with massages of my frail ego. I was still new to Internet dating and open to its possibilities, so when she suggested we meet for coffee, I was primed for the encounter.
We agreed to meet at a local mall. A couple days later, the night before our planned meeting, she revealed that she was confined to a wheelchair. Her picture only had shown her from mid-chest up. My interest deflated, but I didn’t want to reject someone simply because they were handicapped. I thought I should at least give her a chance to see what might develop.
As I entered the corridor that led to the food court, I spotted a figure in the distance in a wheelchair at a table with two other persons. Moving closer, I saw that she was much smaller than expected and more severely disabled, her body twisted…
