![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lb_lee posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
pluralstories“Oh, but this was a delightful dream,” Miss Agatha hastened to assure her. "It was a dream of you and a baby. You’ve always had a Madonna look, you know, Emily, but there you were all Madonna. I can see the little thing now with its sensitive wee face—it wasn’t more than six months old—and a patrician dot of a nose and mysterious blue eyes...”
Blurb: Miss Emily and Miss Agatha are two inseparable spinsters and roommates. When they were younger, they taught children together, but now they have retired. Then Miss Agatha starts having recurring dreams that she and Emily have a baby together, named Vanderkoep (Agatha's last name), who grows and ages like any other infant. Miss Emily studiously writes down everything that occurs, but he only ever appears to Agatha...
Why is it worth your time?: It's a short, bittersweet story of romantic friendship and a non-traditional family from over a century ago. This is an odd duck, and I can safely say I've never read anything like it. It's a pretty good story, and at least to 2020s sensibility, Miss Emily and Miss Agatha's relationship feels pretty queer. Their devotion to each other and their dream baby is touching, and even though the ending is sad, I don't feel like the story judges them or their relationship.
Plural Tags: dreamfolk, inner children (for lack of a better term), abuse not mentioned, plural family
Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments
Access Notes: Available for free online, on account of it being in the public domain, and the text-only transcription was so poor I decided to clean it up and repost it myself.
Misc. Notes: Dunbar, the author, was active in the women's suffrage movement in the USA, and herself only married at 41. Her work had feminist themes, and I think this story is no exception.
Blurb: Miss Emily and Miss Agatha are two inseparable spinsters and roommates. When they were younger, they taught children together, but now they have retired. Then Miss Agatha starts having recurring dreams that she and Emily have a baby together, named Vanderkoep (Agatha's last name), who grows and ages like any other infant. Miss Emily studiously writes down everything that occurs, but he only ever appears to Agatha...
Why is it worth your time?: It's a short, bittersweet story of romantic friendship and a non-traditional family from over a century ago. This is an odd duck, and I can safely say I've never read anything like it. It's a pretty good story, and at least to 2020s sensibility, Miss Emily and Miss Agatha's relationship feels pretty queer. Their devotion to each other and their dream baby is touching, and even though the ending is sad, I don't feel like the story judges them or their relationship.
Plural Tags: dreamfolk, inner children (for lack of a better term), abuse not mentioned, plural family
Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments
Access Notes: Available for free online, on account of it being in the public domain, and the text-only transcription was so poor I decided to clean it up and repost it myself.
Misc. Notes: Dunbar, the author, was active in the women's suffrage movement in the USA, and herself only married at 41. Her work had feminist themes, and I think this story is no exception.
