Presenting “Trading Hearts at the Half Kaffe Café,” a story by Charles de Lint, reprinted from horror romance anthology Single White Vampire Seeks Same edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Brittiany A. Koren for Tor.com’s Monster Mash.
CHERISH EACH DAY
out of life. Likes the outdoors, animals. Seek
ing single female with similar attributes and
aspirations. Ad# 6592
The problem is expectations.
We all buy so heavily into how we hope things will turn out, how society and our friends say it should be, that by the time we actually have a date, we’re locked into those particular hopes and expectations and miss everything that could be. We end up stumbling our way through the forest, never seeing all the unexpected and wonderful possibilities and potentials because we’re looking for the idea of a tree, instead of appreciating the actual trees in front of us.