Content Warning: This section references suicidal ideation, alcoholism, sexual exploitation, and domestic violence.

William Goldman looks back on his childhood and his introduction to his favorite novel, The Princess Bride. In school, he looks up to his teacher Miss Roginski; she despairs of him living up to his potential. He recently failed a reading test and thinks only about sports. While Billy struggles in school, Miss Roginski sees his powerful imagination and calls him a “late bloomer.” Years later, when Goldman publishes his first novel, he sends Miss Roginski a copy. He receives a note back from her that references “S. Morgenstern,” the author of The Princess Bride.

Goldman remembers an autumn when he was 10 years old, looking for the football game on the radio. When he can’t find it, he wails to his mother, who reminds him that the game isn’t on until the next day. When this happens two more times, Billy’s parents realize he’s ill with pneumonia. He spends 10 days in the hospital and then is on bed rest for several weeks, during which time his father begins reading him The Princess Bride.

Goldman’s father is from Florin, the same (fictional) country in which the novel is set, and immigrated to America as a teenager.