**A Grown-Up Fairy Tale**
I was in a hurrya terrible hurry. Today was the most important day of my life. I was going to propose to the woman I loved. In my right pocket was a little velvet box with a ring inside. A proper diamond, small but real.
“Like for like,” I thought to myself.
In my left pocket was another gifta brand-new iPhone. Expensive, too. My nerves had me bouncing on my toes as I walked, muttering under my breath. Would she say yes? Would she smile? The thoughts crowded my head so much that
I didnt even see the little old lady until I nearly knocked her over.
She stood at the edge of a raised kerb bordering a patch of grass in the middle of the housing estate where my girlfriend lived. Whoever designed this place had a cruel sense of humouruneven paving stones, slippery paths, and kerbs so high they might as well have been walls.
“Oh! Im so sorry,” I said.
“Dont worry, dear,” the old woman replied, her eyes bright and lively despite the deep wrinkles lining her face. “Would you mind helping me across? I dont think I can manage on my own.”
I offered my arm, and she took it with a chuckle. “Such a proper gentleman.”
Once we reached the other side, she sank onto a bench with a grateful sigh. “Your sweethearts a lucky girl.”
“Howd you know?” I blinked.
“Oh, its written all over you,” she laughed. “Bouncing about like a puppy, muttering to yourself.” She sighed. “I, on the other hand, cant even remember my own shopping list. Went out for milk and left my purse at home. Suppose Ill have to skip lunch.”
The flat was just fifty metres away. I sighed. “Tell me what you need. Ill run to the shop.”
“Oh, I couldnt ask you to”
“Its fine. Todays a good day.”
She relented. “Just some milk, bread, and a bit of pasta, dear.”
“Thats all?”
She nodded, and again, I was struck by how young her eyes looked.
The shop was just around the corner. I grabbed everything I couldfour heavy bags. She gasped when I returned.
“Goodness! Ill never eat all this!”
“Let me take you home,” I offered.
She stiffened. “No, no. My friends coming by soon to collect me. But yousit down a moment. Let me repay your kindness.”
I hesitated, glancing at my watch.
“Dont fuss. It wont take long.”
I sat.
“Show me that ring of yours.”
I handed her the box. She turned it over in her hands before giving it back.
“Lovely. And expensive.” She tutted. “But wheres the cake?”
I slapped my forehead. “Blimey, I forgot!”
She leaned in, whispering something that made my eyebrows shoot up.
“Youre sure?”
“Absolutely,” she said, gripping my shoulder and locking eyes with me.
The next thing I knew, I was outside my girlfriends door, a cake box in hand.
How did I get here?
Strange. I didnt remember buying it.
I rang the bell.
She answered in a pretty summer dress, twirling to show it off. I handed her the cake.
“Oh! How did you know this was my favourite?”
(She wasnt really askingwed been together a year. Of course I knew.)
Over tea, she untied the ribbon and lifted the lidthen shrieked.
Inside wasnt cake, but a tiny kitten.
“What is this?!” she screeched. “You know I hate filthy animals! Is this some kind of joke?”
Her face twistedfor a second, she looked like a horrible old crone.
I tried to laugh it off, but she wasnt having it.
“Im sorry, I didnt mean”
“Just get on with it,” she snapped, knowing exactly why Id come.
I dropped to one knee, pulling out the ring box.
“Will you marry me?”
She snatched it, flipped it openthen scoffed. “Another joke?”
The box was empty.
“My Godthe old woman! She stole it!”
“What old woman?!”
“I helped her, and”
“You showed her the ring?!” she shrieked. “You idiot!”
“It was right here!”
“Youre lying! You couldnt even afford a cake, let alone a ring!”
I reached for the iPhone in my pocket, but she was already screaming.
“Loser! Useless! Im not wasting my life on you!”
She shoved me out, slamming the door so hard the kitten yowled.
I stroked its head. “Easy, little one. Lets go home.”
Dazed, I wandered back to the benchbut the old woman was gone. Instead, an elderly man in a sharp black suit sat there, a cane in hand.
“Looking for someone?” he asked, eyes startlingly young.
“The old ladydid you see where she went?”
“What do you want with her?”
“She stole my ring.”
“Did she?” He chuckled. “Sit. Tell me everything.”
I did.
“Odd,” he mused. “Did you check the box properly?”
I handed it over. He opened itthen smiled. “There you are.”
The ring was stuck to the lid.
“She never took it,” he said.
“Butmy girlfriend”
“You got your answer, didnt you?”
“I loved her.”
“Did she love you?”
I sighed. “I dont think so.”
“You had another gift, didnt you? Besides the filthy kitten?”
I pulled out the iPhone.
He took it, wrapped it neatly with a red ribbon from his pocket, and handed it back.
“Find someone who deserves it.”
I thanked him and leftbut when I turned back, he was gone.
Outside my flat, I found my neighboura redheaded girlcrawling on the pavement, crying. Shed dropped her phone.
“Need help?”
She looked up, freckled and tear-streaked. “Its shattered. I cant afford a new one.”
“Funny you should say that,” I said, pulling out the ribbon-wrapped iPhone.
She refused at first, but I insisted. “Take it, or Ill bin it.”
She opened the box, gasping. “Its too much!”
“Ill show you how it works tonight,” I said. “Ten minutes. Thats all.”
Her face changedsuddenly, she wasnt just a freckled girl, but something radiant.
We married a year later. I bought her a new ring, of course.
The kitten grew into a fat, smug cat.
As for the old woman and the man with the cane? I never saw them again.
Sometimes I wonder if it even happened.
But the cat on our bed says otherwise.
Dont tell me fairy tales arent real.
Just keep your eyes openyou might see one yourself.
And thats that.
