The Big One-Oh (19 page)

 

 

I put my head down as Garry and I headed back to my house so Garry wouldn't see that my eyes were getting wet again.

“You like Chinese food?” he asked.

“Lots.”

“Cuz I had an idea: it's your birthday. You don't want to have to cook. You think your mom would like it if I go and pick up some chop suey?”

“Yeah. Mom likes Chinese food even more than I do.”

And so that's what we did.

 

 

After we ate our Chinese food and opened our fortune cookies (mine said: “You will get some new clothes,” which doesn't sound like a fortune handed down from ancient China), Lorena and I cleaned up while Mom and Garry talked and laughed at the dining room table.

When we got into the kitchen, Lorena rolled her eyes and groaned, “Now we'll never get rid of him.”

I'm hoping that she's right.

It had been a long day, and I was feeling really wiped out, but I wasn't ready for my birthday to end. That's why I came up here to my bedroom, pulled out my Birthday Notebook, and, with Boing Boing resting his head in my lap, I wrote down everything that happened, just like I told everybody it did.

I also wrote a thank-you note to Dad. Not just for the balloons and the issues of
Monsters & Maniacs.
But also for sending me the wrong birthday card on the wrong date and for writing the ten words that had changed my life:
“What are you going to do for your big day?”

I still had one more thing to do. I flipped to the middle of my Birthday Notebook, and I reread what I had written under THINGS TO DO FOR MY PARTY:

#3 was FIND A THEME. I found a pretty good one, don't you think?

#2 was WATCH PEOPLE WITH FRIENDS TO LEARN HOW. I had done a lot of watching. And a lot of learning.

And finally, #1 was MAKE FRIENDS. I'll have to wait until school on Monday before I can be sure of the others, but right now, I'm feeling pretty good about Garry.

And, y'know, it's funny, looking at that list now, I feel like I wrote it another lifetime ago. Because all of a sudden, as late as it is and as tired as I am, I feel like a different person. I feel like I'm less afraid of the world than I used to be. I feel taller.

Stronger.

Maybe a little wiser, even.

But, c'mon! Is that so surprising?

After all . . .

I
am
10.