Chelsea's Smile

 

    Once a girl called Chelsea. She had two brothers, whose names were Tedd and Benedett Her dad's name was Robert. She lived in a utopia where everything was possible. Fairies, magic everything existed in the land of Artimè. Chelsea mother, Loriline, was the most powerful enchantress in all the land. But this little gem of a girl had lost her smile. Her fingers were webbed as well. But Loriline used a sort of magic to free her fused together fingers. Now, the scientists out of you would it had something to do with her 5th and 6th cranial nerve, yadayadayada, (no disrespect to doctors BTW). Probably yes, but in OUR world. But come on people, this is a fairyland.

     Anyway, Chelsea's mother Loriline, tried everything, spells, potions, magic powders. She even resorted to the most despised kind of magic, witchcraft, but nothing would help. She knew that Chelsea was a very intelligent girl,with a special kind of magic- she would be a mage. A few days after Chelsea turned six, Loriline was helping her dress for her birthday party, and she tied two red ribbons into Chelsea's hair. As she adimired it's effect in Chelsea's bright blond hair, Chelsea looked at her mother's reflection in the pool of floating water. "I want to smile, like you", she said. Loriline sighed in anger, at herself, and her magic for failing her at this critical moment. "I will find a way to make you smile, whatever it takes" she vowed. 

    Soon after, she heard of a wizard called Sir Ronaldo Zuckerman. He was a skilled magic worker who had helped many children with the same disability as Chelsea. But the magic consisted of two parts, powders and potions. They both had to be performed seperately, with a month gap in between. If it went wrong, Chelsea could have an artificial half smile on one side of her face! It was a risk, but Loriline had one comfort. Sir Ronaldo had not had a failure yet. 

       Chelsea decided to go. A few days and a lot of worrying later, Chelsea had  no change. She had to practice smiling. One month later, she had a definite half smile. Encouraged slightly, Chelsea went to Sir Ronaldo again. After a few months, she could smile quite well. On her 8th birthday, she gave herself the one gift she wanted most, a perfect symmetric smile. Many people, inspired by the pretty little girl's success, underwent the treatment as well. Since it was a fairyland, it's always happily ever after.........or is it?

 

The inspiration for this story is from Readers digest pages 37 to 43, volume 151, issue 906, October of 1997.

The original version of this story is given below. ( Originally written by Barbara Sande Dimmit)

Original names Chelsea is Chelsey, Loriline is Lori, Sir Ronaldo Zuckerman is Dr. Ronald Zuker, Tedd is Todd, Benedett is Brett and Robert is Bob.