The theme of this story is what your perception of reality is, vs what it actually is. These two can be very different things. Sometimes people have a hard time facing the real world, and the problems that occur along with it. Another theme is that people do not always want to be reminded of their past. This is apparent when Roberta and Twyla continue to meet throughout the story, Roberta has a distorted view of what happened to the girls in the past.