ASPOESTERTJIE EN DIE DRIE BERE – Nelia Engelbrecht

ASPOESTERTJIE EN DIE DRIE BERE – Nelia Engelbrecht

SYNOPSIS

In this short story the main character, Corli, meets the De Beer brothers, identical triplets Graham, Grant and Gareth, the new neighbours of her friend, Triz. They live in Glenhaven, a very posh security complex.

The girls, together with a third friend, Vanessa, admire the three brothers from Triz's balcony and promptly walk over to introduce themselves. Corli trips and lands up on top of Gareth, who is stretched out on a sun lounger. She is fascinated by his blue eyes with green speckles. They mingle with the boys for an hour and Corli learns that Gareth is a smooth talker, just like herself.

The next day, while gazing at the De Beer's backyard, Corli decides to go over to look for her favourite blue bikini that she had left in the change room next to the patio while the previous neighbours were still living there. After ascertaining that the brothers were not there, she enters the change room and finds the bikini behind towels in the back of a cupboard. She helps herself to snacks and a can of cold drink from the bar fridge and promptly falls asleep on the couch. This is where one of the triplets, Gareth, finds her. He pretends to be his brother Graham. He compares Corli to Goldilocks, who helped herself to food in the three bears' house and who slept on their beds.

The following evening Gareth arrives with a date, Kristen, at the restaurant where Corli works as a part-time waitress. Kristen hates Corli after Corli and Vanessa had stuck chewing-gum in her hair in primary school, because Kristen constantly bullied Triz. Kristen is a very demanding customer and tries to humiliate Corli in front of Gareth. She eventually trips Corli, which results in her falling on the floor, cutting her hand with broken crockery in the process. Gareth offers to take Corli to the hospital, much to Kristen's dismay. He tells her that one of his brothers will take her home. In the car he admits to Corli that it was Kristen who had tripped her and that he was not impressed by her rude manners.

Corli directs Gareth to her house and when she admits that she does not live in Glenhaven like the rest of them, Gareth tells her that he already knew. When arriving at her house, Gareth leans over and kisses Corli. At that moment, in Corli's mind, she changes from Goldilocks to Cinderella, the real princess.