Short Story: The Birthday

The sky was always blue holding sunshine rays in her world. Her name was Rosaline Deponte, my great-grandma. The continuous smile that she showed on her face reminded us how precious life is and to not take things for granted. Cold wood floors that could easily freeze toes, single-walled construction, shut rows of jalousie windows, and the smell of warm sweet bread on the counter 24/7, that was Rosaline’s house.

Katie’s mom has cancer. In the short story Birthday Box (By Jane Yolen) Katie is depressed. Her mom is dying. Everything seems to be falling apart. Katie is Determined, sad and scared.

Finally up the gruesome stairs Harper pulled open the door to her office and was surprised to see two teenage girls sitting in her waiting room, one looked around 14 the other 16, her intern Andre gives Harper an apologetic look, typical of him to forget to tell her about this appointment, ‘’ sorry Harper I know you only do by appointment and all that I just felt so bad in turning them away’’ so this wasn’t’t Just Andrea failure as a intern ‘’its fine Andre, do you know they’re names and why they’re here or is that another surprise?’’ I can understand why Andre couldn’t’t turn the girls away, they looked terrible the bags under their eyes gave hinted sleepless nights, this case was going to be interesting, ‘’their names are Isabelle and Stella they’re from a small town outside of New York you’ve probably never heard of it Burke or something?’’ Harper had indeed never heard of it, having never lived in a small town she always imagined them full of secrets and mysteries. ‘‘Seems a far way to come?’’ Harper replied ‘’that’s what I thought, you don’t have any appointments so you can take this one now.’’

A light tapping on my door dissolves the image. I wipe my eyes before resting myself on my elbows and call out, “Come in.”

“Today is going to be perfect!” I told myself. It was April 1, 2012, and it was my birthday. I had just finished a long, boring day of school when I started to wait for my eighth birthday party. My mom and I had spent the entire afternoon searching for cakes, birthday favors, and more. This was all to lead up to my party. The party was going to be a star-wars themed birthday party with all sorts of decorations. It was going to be at Kid’s Kingdom, a gymnastics center, where we would jump on trampolines. That was assuming I would be able to jump.

The time for my birthday party was approaching. I remember running around and trying to make sure that everything was in order. At the time I thought this was going to be one of the biggest days of my life. I had been been preparing for this day for weeks and weeks on end. I poured my heart out into every aspect of the planning. I hand-wrote all my invitations. I filled the pages of my notebooks with crayon drawings of exactly how I wanted the day to go. My venue of choice was Amazing Jake's. I was a shy, lonely eight year old at the time and I felt as though this would be my big break.

It’s June 28th 2017 in Austin Texas, and it’s my birthday. My family and I gather around the dinner table in our cellar.

It is April 4th. It is my 21 birthday.21 years ago I was born and got named Thea. My mom Emily, dad James, sister Maddison, and brother Liam are coming over to celebrate my birthday. There are a few things I must do before they come.

A blue blow up pool with “INTEX” branded along its side jiggled with the weight of rambunctious six year olds attempting to create a whirlpool by running in circles inside its perimeter. The water rocked and sloshed over the plump lip of the pool, onto a beach towel and sandals that were resting on the ground, too close to the pool. My mom would never let me have a pool like that because she said someone would wander into our yard and drown in it. Living in the country, my cousins never had to worry about that.

All week my parents have been hinting a trip this weekend. It was Friday night and I was laying wide awake in my bed, staring at my white ceiling. It was 2 am and my mind was racing and excitement ran through my veins. Unfortunately, my parents are constantly working, so they never really take me places. I had turned thirteen last week and this was my birthday present. Could it be an amusement park? I really love roller coasters. Or maybe an arcade? Playing video games is my favorite thing to do. My mind began thinking of anything and everything until I eventually drifted into a buoyant slumber.

It was my birthday. Two things that I never thought would happen. One was me getting a chocolate lab I named Hazel, the second was losing a loved one. These two things happened on one day that I will love and hate for the rest of my life.

It was a beautiful sunny Saturday morning when I woke up on March 24, 2012, and most importantly it was my tenth birthday! I woke up to the waft of pancakes and freshly cooked bacon coming in from the kitchen. I got out of bed, and ran downstairs. I ran so fast that I tripped on the last step, landing on my ankle. But that did not matter because it was my birthday. I bounced in the kitchen flinging the door open. The first faces I saw were my mom, brother, grandma, and grandpa; mom was still in her nightgown from waking up so early to start breakfast for the special day.

As she descended the stairs she seen a cup of coffee sitting on the countertop along side a police hat, she assumes that today was ‘just another day’ for her father as well, putting innocent people in jail must keep the heart of a despaired person pumping. Laila-Ann was on her way to the restaurant. She reminisced on when she first met Denise, it was her first meeting and the training had followed. Denise and I we were partnered together and I was forced to push her around to simulate a real sit-in. I knew people were cruel I seen it first hand on many occasions and it felt terrible to even pretend to push her around and call her all kinds of

Happy birthday to me! It feels like 15 degrees Celsius in Los Angeles. But, it’s 59 degrees Fahrenheit. I still couldn’t get my Fahrenheit and mile sense right even after the eighth straight year here. Most of my friends from India wished me half a day before. While some took special care in wishing me at twelve by the Pacific Time Zone. The time difference is handsome. The best wish came from my mother, who could never cater to the current technologies. She called me. The old voice call feels more real than the 3D-calling prevalent these days. Usually, I am not a person who would boast of her birthdays but, this deserved to be documented because it is my last year in the States. So here, I write about how my 27th starts.

It was a bright Saturday afternoon and my birthday. I was scrambling around trying to make my house look somewhat presentable. Rrrrrinngg. As one the guest rang the doorbell, I quickly jumped up ready to receive them.