Strange coincidences

exist now and then, as you know. When I named my principal character, Petra Bravo, I knew at once that her first name would be Petra, after a flute student I had many years ago. This girl was very smart and talented, and also pretty in a sporty and somewhat boyish way. But what was her surname? The name "Bravo" came sailing into my head. Petra Bravo, it sounded good. I looked up Bravo in the telephone catalogue. To my astonishment it was a real surname. There were many people named Bravo. I actually felt a pang when I found a Cecilia Bravo in Enskede, since my name is Cecilia and I live in Enskede, which is a Stockholm suburbian area, not that big.

Petras boyfriend was named Tom Trygg, and immediately a Petra Trygg popped up among the circle of acquaintances. Of course you only are more observant on things related to your on-going project. But the way coincidences are playing around amuses me, enough anyway, to write these lines.

Another event that made me jump, was about cuddly toys, and how you shed your most grievous tears over their furry body. Petra uses a small teddy bear to trick the monster Jadnan. The toy bear is stuffed with sorrow, both Petra's own, and the grey children's. I was asking myself: Is this what people really do? Cry in cuddly toys? And if they do, shouldn't the toy be rather big?

Shortly after I'd written the chapter about Jadnan, I saw a girl on TV holding a small toy rabbit. She described, how she had been crying in it during her childhood, when she had been bullied because she was adopted and different. I was very moved, and it felt as if reality wanted to tell me that I'd got it right. (As for myself, I used to cry in the fur of my cat when I was younger.)  

 /Cecilia