We call the phenomenon The Dickens effect: when characters who have been in the background of your life move forward and lead characters fall into the periphery. The real surprise and treat is that you never know what minimal character will suddenly show up large and center. Mild example: A dormitory neighbor is dating a man named Fiercely. Two years later you move states and the secretary of your company is the wife of Fiercely and find she has been married to Fiercely for ten years. Dun-dun-dun.
"Maybe it's just that I've been around sixty-four years and I have been able to watch this cycle in full," she wonders aloud. "Maybe no one else experiences the Dickens effect. All I know are the characters of my life are like pieces on a chess board. They move back and forth." Under her pillow she is keeping David Copperfield and Bleak House. She wants to know the ending.
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