The Girl She Might Have Been
“I DREAMED,” said Molly, “that I was alone in a big room, and a man came up to me with a woman who looked like me, but was much prettier. She had red cheeks, such as the doctor said I might have if I’d take more exercise. She was taller, or I guess she just looked taller because she stood so fine and straight. I began to talk to her. She had the sweetest voice, and she knew everything. She’d read all the books that I’ve always meant to read, and she could play the piano wonderfully, as I might if I only hadn’t stopped practicing. And somehow I felt she never lost her temper as I do, and that everybody who knew her must love her. I don’t know how I knew all these things, for she didn’t tell me. I just sort of felt them the way you do in dreams. Still I didn’t know who she was, and she wouldn’t tell me, so I asked the man, and he said: ‘Why, haven’t you found out yet? She’s the girl you might have been.’” —Record of Christian Work.