This is the first chapter in my newest story with the working title My Fairytale. I started writing it last Saturday and have close to 9000 words so far. I just started chapter 5. Here is the first chapter. I would appreciate feedback in the comments below. If there are no comments, it will be the only chapter I will present here.

The inspiration for this story came from a Dove Dark Chocolate candy wrapper. It said: Write your own fairytale, and be your own hero. Here then is My Fairytale.

My Fairytale

1

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, in a tale as old as rhyme, I came into the world. I came into the world in the usual way, or at least it was usual for me. I was part of an experiment. There were many other experiments, all crying for attention.

          My story begins on a hot, windless day in mid-December. I turned eighteen years old, along with all the other experiments born on the same day.

          Now, you might wonder what kind of experiment I am. I did and did not have a mother or father. Not the usual father or mother. You see, my parents are robots. Not your usual nuts and bolts robots. No, my robot parents look, talk, and act like normal people. I am not a robot. I am human. I am not a robot. I can attest to that because I bleed blood. I saw my mother bleed once. It was not red, and it was not blood. It was some kind of oil. At least that is what she told me when I saw the ‘blood’ on her arm. An arm that looked like mine, but did not act like mine. Her arm had wires and circuits, and she needed to charge her power supply every few years. She told me Father was just like her. So, my question was if she does not have blood, how did I come to be?

          A long time ago, when Earthlings left Earth for far-reaching stars, they built robots to look and act like them in case something happened to them. In time, the Earthlings died, but they left behind an important part of themselves—their DNA.

          When the robots advanced enough, they put the DNA in Petri dishes and then in test tubes. When the DNA grew large enough, they transferred the babies into an artificial womb where we grew until it was time for us to be born.

          Now, eighteen years later, here I am at the beginning of a new life and a new chapter in my life. I am in a room filled with everyone who was part of the experiment. We all had numbers according to the number on our Petri dish. My number is 719. I often wondered about my number. For instance, why wasn’t I number one? It did not take long to find out who number one was as I looked around the room filled with thousands of other numbers. We did not look alike. We did not talk alike. But we were all human. People with distinctive hair and eye color. Skin pigmentation stood out with colors of deepest coal to the palest sunbeam. My pigmentation was somewhere in the middle between a warm beige and almond. I looked like the honey the bees made, and I spread on my toast in the morning.

          Yes, there are bees. In fact, there is every sort of animal brought to the galaxy by the Earthlings so they would have something to remind them of Earth. My robot mother told me I looked like dark honey.

          So, here I am with all the other numbered experiments ready to embark on a new challenge.

          First Robot came into the room. “Good morning. The first thing you will do is choose a name for yourselves. We will no longer call you by a number.”

          A name. I would have a name. What would I choose, or would it be chosen for me?

          “I have two jars with names for everyone. One jar has male names and the other female names. You will come forward and claim your name.”

          Excitement ran like a current through the room as we looked at each other ready to find out what name we would choose.

          My number was 719. It would take a long time before they called my name. Still, I wondered what name I would choose.

It did not take as long as I thought before First Robot called my number. I went forward, reached into the jar, now half empty, and pulled out my name.

          I opened the slip of paper and read my name: Valerie along with its meaning: classic, formal, upper class, natural, wholesome, strong, refined, strange, serious, courageous, valor, healthy, brave, kind, beautiful, wise, loyal, valiant, persistent, worthy. Comes from French. Whatever that is.

          I looked at the name on the slip of paper along with the meaning and felt like I grew taller with each description. That is me. I am no longer a number. My name is Valerie.

          “Okay, listen up. Now that you each have your name, you will find people who have the same qualities as those on your name list. They will be your friends. The person of the opposite gender who comes closest to the descriptions of your name, will be your life partner.”

          I knew who my best friend was, but would she have the same qualities I had? And what about the man? Until now, I have never associated with anyone from the opposite gender. My robot Mother and Father told me not to. So, I did not. Now, we were told to find friends of both genders and one would be my life partner.

          It did not take long to realize two things: one, there were more men than women, and two, everyone had the same characteristics.

          “By now you realize you can all be friends. You also know there are more men in this group than women. It will be interesting to find who will not receive a life partner. Your next assignment is to find out what you want most in a friend and life partner. You will do that in the old-fashioned way, dating.”

          Old-fashioned way? I had never heard of dating or friendship or anything First Robot suggested. How would I find these friends or a life partner?

~

          Mother waited for me when I returned home. “Tell me about dating?” I asked barely inside the door.

          “What did First Robot tell you when you were there?”

          “We all got names. My name is Valerie with all kinds of meanings after it.”

          Mother was quiet for a few minutes as she considered what I told her.

          “Valerie is a good strong name. What else did First Robot tell you?”

          “He told us we were to make friends and find a life partner. Then he said we needed to date. What is dating?”

          “Dating is when two people from the opposite gender do things together.”

          I could see she retrieved the answer from her memory banks. She told me about those once too. It was on the occasion when I did homework and asked for her help. She helped without providing me with the answer. It sounded like she did the same thing just now.

          “Do you mean when two people do something other than going to work or worship?”

          I knew about both as I started working when I was fifteen and I started worship services soon after I started life. Mother and Father felt it was an integral part of my life.

          “Do you know the Book we gave you when you learned to read?”

          “Yes, but it has nothing to do with dating.”

          “No, but it does deal with good and evil. You need to know what kind of person to stay away from when you start dating and making friends.”

          “What story do you want me to read in the Book?”

          Again, I could see her thinking before she said, “There are many stories in the book. Start with Proverbs. It will tell you what to look for in a friend and a life partner.”

          Until then, I had not paid too much attention to the Book. I went to my room and retrieved it from the top shelf with the other things I collected throughout my life. It was the only book. I did not read more than I needed to for my studies. I never considered this book for instruction. I would soon find it would teach me more than I realized.

Thank you for reading. The image is courtesy of Pixabay, and represents a plant in the story.