THE BIRTHDAY WISH by Janet Cipolli

It was a stormy day from the moment Chrissie got up. In fact, it was the thunderous clap of lightning that awoke her from a very pleasant dream. She was at her birthday party and all her friends were gathered around the table where sat her beautifully decorated cake. Red velvet with cream cheese frosting topped by a carousel of tiny horses that were moving their legs as it spun around. Happy Birthday began to emanate from the carousel as brightly colored balloons were released overhead. The candles on the cake were lit and ready for her blast of a birthday wish to come true. With her eyes closed she wished “for the best birthday ever!” She rose up from her chair to reach the flickering lights with her lips poised in a perfect circle—then crash!
        Stunned at first, then annoyed at the sudden end of her wonderful dream, she looked towards the window.
        “Not today!” she moaned.
        As she flung her quilt off to the side of the bed, her feet hit the hardwood floor in perfect unison to the sound of a cracking tree limb. At first, Chrissie looked down expecting to find the floor about to give way beneath her—then the crash outside her second-floor bedroom window revealed the true source. She paused—torn between running for the door and her curiosity to inspect the chaos churning outside. She opted for the door and ran downstairs to find her mother.
        “Mommy!” Chrissie yelled frantically, running from room to room.
        Her mother came out of the kitchen where she had been preparing her daughter’s birthday cake.
        “What on earth is going on?” her mother asked.
        “Look!” Chrissie pointed towards the backyard slider door.
        The branch of a tree was lying against it. As they both hurried towards it, a strong wind gust blew a backyard chair clear across the yard.
        “Mom! What are we going to do? My birthday party!” Chrissie shrilled.
        “Oh, for Pete’s sake Christina, stop shouting.” Her mother peered out into the yard to assess any further damage. The sky was dark gray and the wind was blowing at a pretty good clip—but over to the west she could see the sky clearing and the sun breaking through.
        “It’s just a thundercloud, see over there?” pointing to the brighter end of the sky. “It’ll be over by the time your Dad sets up for the party.” With that, she turned and went back into the kitchen. Chrissie followed but only after taking another inspection of the sky.
        “Mom, how many friends are coming to my party?”
        “At last count, I received twelve yes and one no.”
        “Somebody said no?!” Chrissie dropped her cereal spoon on the breakfast table.
        Her mother casually glanced in her direction.
        “Jessica Morgan Albright said she couldn’t come because she had a dance recital to go to.”
        “Oh, great! She’s the best one of all—now what am I supposed to do?”
        She picked up her spoon and looked into her cereal bowl as if it could tell the future. Jessica Morgan Albright’s family was extremely well off and she would have brought a really nice gift. Chrissie pondered over what it might have been. Maybe that new video game Monster Mania that her mother said was too expensive, or maybe even an IPOD. She had mentioned to Jessica one day at school that she would just “looooove to have an IPOD” like hers. What a bummer! she thought.
        “Those friends of mine better show up with some good presents or I’m gonna be really mad!’ Chrissie blurted out.
        “Christina!’ her mother scolded while shaking her head, “Finish your breakfast and then do your chores before Daddy gets home with the decorations. I don’t know where you get those manners from—certainly not from me. Be thankful that you have friends to come to your party.”
        Chrissie scowled and dove into her Fruit Loops.
        “I was talking to Benjamin’s mother next door,” her mother continued, “and she told me that he invited some friends from school to his birthday party but they all said no.” Then turning to Chrissie, “Did you know it was his birthday too?”
        Her daughter kept her eyes down and went at the cereal like it was her last meal.
        “Christina? Did you invite Ben like I asked you to?”
        Chrissie had eaten enough and heard enough. She got up and put the bowl and spoon in the kitchen sink.
        “I don’t want any boys at my birthday party,” she rolled her eyes.
        But she wasn’t fooling her mother. Chrissie didn’t invite him because he probably couldn’t afford to buy her a present.
        “You have a lot of growing up to do missy,” her mom called after her.

        Benjamin stood at his second-floor bedroom window peering down at Chrissie Clark’s backyard. The birthday party was in full swing. There was even a circus clown who was juggling bright-colored nerf balls. It looked like everyone was having fun. Smack in the middle of the yard was a humongous table set up just for Chrissie’s birthday gifts. Dozens of balloons were tied to it and he could see that gifts had already been opened—mostly clothes, girly stuff. He wouldn’t have been able to give her anything half-as-nice.
        “Benny?” his grandmother called up the staircase. “We’re ready!”
        Today was his birthday too and his grandmother, who had driven up from North Carolina just to see him, had baked his favorite cake—chocolate with chocolate frosting, he even got to lick the bowls.
        Any other time he would have been flying down the staircase but today he wasn’t feeling all that excited. His father had died earlier in the year from a heart attack, leaving he and his mom on their own. She had to go back to work and Ben was left alone most of the time. There wasn’t enough money to buy any decorations and he didn’t expect much of a present either.
        “Here’s the birthday boy!” his Mom endeared.
        She and his grandmother broke out into a chorus of The Birthday Song and he couldn’t help but smile. They were so off key.
        “How does it feel to be eleven years old? Why, you’re almost a teenager,” his grandmother turned to her daughter, “He’ll be driving soon!”
        “I know, my baby is growing up,” smiling affectionately.
        Both women stood there, side-by-side, smiling at him for what seemed an eternity. It was making him nervous. His grandmother poked his mom and they stepped aside to reveal what they had been keeping from his view.
        “Surprise!!” they shouted.
        Benjamin’s mouth dropped! On the kitchen table, right next to his scrumptious chocolate birthday cake—a huge box wrapped in lime green paper with a big orange bow.
        “Mom!” he could hardly speak as he ran over and put his arms around it. He picked it up expecting it to be heavy but it was disappointingly light. His smiling face turned sour.
        “Is this a joke? It’s an empty box, right?”
        “Open it,” his grandmother laughed and looked for matches to light the candles.
        Ben placed his gift back on the table and tore off the bow and paper. Then he had to remove many feet of scotch tape that was keeping the box sealed. Underneath days of crumpled newspapers was another box only much smaller, wrapped in the same lime green paper with no bow but with a card attached. It read ‘you deserve this! Love Mom and Grandma, xoxoxo’
        Ben smiled with anticipation as he opened the present.
        “No way!” he shouted in disbelief, “Monster Mania??”
        It was the new video game that all the kids at school were talking about. He never even bothered to ask his mom for it because it cost so much.
        “Happy Birthday sweetie,” holding her arms out for a hug.
        Though never big on hugs, Benjamin welcomed the opportunity to hide his quickly tearing eyes.
        “Go hug your grandmother too,” releasing him and smiling, “She paid for half of it.”
        After all the hugs, Ben’s grandmother lit his birthday candles. As his face loomed over their light, he wondered what he should wish for. This birthday had already proven itself to be a very special one and he wanted to choose his wish carefully. He had a very strong feeling that whatever he wished for would come true. He thought about Chrissie and her party then made his wish.
        Back upstairs in his bedroom, Ben was so engrossed in his new video game that he hadn’t noticed how dark the room had become. Gradually, pellets of hard rain hitting against the window got his attention. He left the game controller on the carpet where he had been sitting for the past hour and went to the window.
        Outside was chaos. The sudden storm and its torrential rains had sent everyone at the party screaming and running for cover inside the house. All of Chrissie’s friends were stampeding through the decorations like a frightened herd of cattle.
        In the middle of the yard by the humongous table of gifts, stood Chrissie—waving her arms and yelling after them. He couldn’t hear her words but he could tell what she wanted. She wanted help saving her presents which were now drenched and falling off the table.
        Ben watched as she grabbed as many as she could carry and headed towards her hack door. She got about three steps before her feet—with shiny new shoes—slipped out from under her. Down she went—her and the gifts! Benjamin busted out a laugh then felt guilty. It really wasn’t funny. There sat Christina in a puddle of muddy water—the rain relentlessly pelting her head.
       
        The next morning the sun was shining, the birds were chirping and Chrissie was depressed. Her mother had fixed her a wonderful breakfast of powdered French toast with fresh strawberries and a big glass of chocolate milk—hoping her daughter’s mood would brighten. But she just poked at the food with her fork.
         “Christina, I’m so sorry but it’s not the end of the world dear. The holidays will be coming up and Santa will be bringing you lots of presents.”
        Her head still down in her plate, her eyes looked up at her mother.
        “I stopped believing in Santa Claus two years ago, remember? When you and Daddy were creeping by my bedroom?”
        At least now she was talking.
        “I don’t care about the gifts anyway—it’s those idiots who call themselves my friends,” her voice returned to its regular volume. “They don’t care about me! All they cared about yesterday were their pretty new dresses and their pretty new shoes and their pretty little hairdos,” she whined sarcastically.
        Her mother turned to do the morning dishes and was pleased to hear the sound of her daughter’s appetite returning. Just as she finished her breakfast there was a knock at the back door. They could both see through the window that it was Benjamin from next door.
        “Oh, brother—what does he want?” Chrissie got up to put her dish in the sink.
        Her mother went to the back door and opened it. Benjamin stood on the porch holding a small present wrapped in lime green paper with a big orange bow.
        “Hi Mrs. Clark, is Chrissie home?” he sheepishly asked. He was really very shy and it took a lot of courage for him to walk over there this morning.
        She welcomed Ben into the kitchen and called to her daughter.
        “Christina, Benjamin is here. He has something for you.”
        Chrissie, who had begun to head upstairs to her room, turned around and walked back into the kitchen. She saw the present he was holding in his hands.
        Ben nervously spoke. “I saw what happened yesterday from my bedroom and I wanted you to have this. Happy Birthday.”
        Her mother smiled and left the room. Chrissie hesitated before taking the gift from him. She still wasn’t sure if he was only there to gloat.
        As she tore back enough of the tape to reveal the words Monster Mania she ripped through the rest of the lime green paper and flung the orange bow onto the floor.
        “Oh my God! You got Monster Mania for me? I can’t believe it—I asked my parents for this game for my birthday and they said it was too expensive. How could you aff—“ she stopped herself in mid-sentence. “I mean, thank you Benjamin. That’s pretty cool.”
        Ben felt his entire body relax. Yeah, it is pretty cool, he thought.
        “Wow,” she was still turning it over and over in her hands, “So, do you want to come in and play it with me?”
        Ben took a deep breath and said, “Sure!”
        He knew this was a special birthday and that whatever he wished for would come true. He was so glad that he wished for he and Chrissie to become friends.

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Copyright 2010 by Janet Cipolli. All rights reserved.