Childhood Dreams

Sherri: Charlotte, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Charlotte: (blank stare).

Sherri: Charlotte?

Charlotte: (startles, averts gaze from Bradley Cooper's picture). Hm, pardon?

Sherri: Your childhood dreams? You must have had some. We're talking about them at The Whine Sisters today.

Charlotte: My childhood dream? To survive. Infant mortality was much higher in those days. It seemed a miracle to grow up at all.

Sherri: (rolls eyes). Yes, but--

Charlotte: I'm quite serious. Have you not remarked on Jane's experiences at Lowood? The poverty? The inadequate protection from the cold? The scanty portions of food? Awful food.

Sherri: The zombies...

Charlotte: (casts icy glare).

Sherri: All right, so no zombies.

Charlotte: We faced exactly the same conditions of Lowood at the Clergy Daughter's School at Cowan Bridge, Lancashire. I lost my two elder sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, to tuberculosis there before our father brought me home. It permanently affected my growth and development, I do believe, as it did Jane's.

Sherri: But Jane Slayre learned she had hidden strengths, the ability to fight and kill--

Charlotte: Jane Eyre learned to survive. Charlotte Bronte picked up her pen and created an imaginary kingdom with her surviving siblings: Emily, Anne, and Branwell. Have you not researched? Why does everyone seem to think I've written one book when I have a whole shelf of--

Sherri: Of course, I know about the Anglia Sagas. And the Green Dwarf. The Professor. Villette.

Charlotte: You do? (straightens up).

Sherri: Everyone does.

Charlotte: Everyone? (smiles).

Sherri: (nods) It's just that Jane Eyre has been considered your masterpiece. You have to admit that Jane's story has it all.

Charlotte: Adventure. Intrigue. Romance.

Sherri: Vampyres. Zombies. Werewolves.

Charlotte: Oh, but if one more person confuses my Jane with that insipid Jane Austen again, I'll--

Sherri: Charlotte, now, it's only because Jane Austen is so beloved a literary figure, as is your fictional Jane Eyre, and you're writing at similar times...

Charlotte: Off with your head!

Sherri: Ah, now, that's Lewis Carroll. Alice in Wonderland. The Tim Burton, Johnny Depp movie is opening this weekend. Would you like to come and see it with me?

Charlotte: You expect me to see a film when there are books to read?