Then: “It’s okay.” Answering with such an expressionless face, it would be easy to assume that A-ya was moping. There was a brief pause as A-ya looked back at her. “Sweetie, I’m sorry your parents couldn’t make it. Crouching down in front of A-ya, she gave him a gentle look of pity. As she finished her work with a flourish, she glanced over at the two of them and frowned. If anything, he was obviously dying to try it C-ta didn’t miss the way he craned his neck to peek over the countertop, watching as she neatly piped ‘Happy birthday A-ya!’ in yellow frosting. The worst thing was that it wasn’t chocolate, which was A-ya’s favorite, and he’d made sure to whisper that to his Mom as she was leaving.Ī-ya didn’t look too annoyed, though. The carefully constructed flowers were pretty, but he definitely would’ve picked a cooler design, one with lighting bolts or dragons or something. He ushered A-ya into the living room while his Mom ducked out to the corner store to buy a cake. It didn’t fade at A-ya’s simplistic responses to his Mom asking about how he and his parents were doing- ‘okay’ and ‘fine,’ both in that flat tone that seemed to bother everyone. It didn’t fade at the awkward pat on the back that A-ya gave him when he was swept up in C-ta’s bone-crushing hug. The call left a smile on his face that didn’t fade until well after A-ya showed up on their doorstep. And I’m sure that A-ya will really appreciate it.” I’ll let him know.” Another sigh, but one of immense relief. She interrupted him with a faint chuckle. “He can come over whenever he wants! Right away! Do you want me to call and tell him? Or I can walk over-” What kind of hero would he be if he left A-ya alone on his birthday? “No, of course she wouldn’t!” He abandoned his mixture on the counter, pacing back and forth across the kitchen floor. “That’s… I was hoping, do you think your Mom would mind if he spent some time there instead? Just until we can make it back?”Īsking permission hardly even crossed his mind. There was the faintest hitch in her breath. His next question was instantaneous: “What about A-ya’s party?” The spoon fell against the rim of the bowl with a clatter. “Something’s going on at work, and, you see, we… well, we may not be able to make it home as soon as we’d hoped.” He waited patiently for her to continue, poking at the yoke with a spoon and trying to make it break. There’s been-” She was interrupted by a muffled scramble, and C-ta had the vague impression that she was snapping at someone on the other end, though the words were impossible to make out. “Oh, well, I don’t- I can’t stay for very long. He didn’t think it was possible for a sigh to be any heavier than her’s. “She said she’ll be down in a minute,” C-ta relayed. “Mom’s upstairs.” Pulling the phone away from his mouth, he called out: “Mom!”įrom above drifted a faint “in a minute!” Picking out stray bits of shell with his free hand, he listened to her near-frantic request to talk to his parents. Or maybe C-ta had jinxed it by foolishly thinking to himself: I hope everything goes well tonight.įor whatever reason, A-ya’s mother called the house just as he’d added an egg to the batter of his second batch of brownies. Maybe burning his first attempt at brownies should have been some kind of premonition. Maybe it had begun when some light snow had rolled in, despite the weather channels insisting that it would be clear all week. A-ya’s tenth birthday wasn’t going as planned, to say the least.
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