A Special Birthday

It is a perfect summer night in Hawaii; there is a cool breeze – not too hot, not too cold. My eyelids are heavy, weighed down of jetlag from the time change from Japan. It is my birthday, but I am too tired to celebrate. As my mind starts drifting into the dream world, I hear a sudden outburst of a cheerful chorus of “Happy Birthday”. When finished, an explosion of applause erupts from my table, and a small cake is placed in front of me. All fatigue forgotten, I look around me, staring at the beaming faces of family and friends alike, all wearing beautiful, red flowers in their hair. I tug at the hem of my dress, nervous under the eye of so many, and blow out the ten candles neatly placed on the cake. A sudden gust of wind blows in my face, and I smell a mixture of burning candle wax and the salty ocean breeze. It is pleasant; I like it. Washing down the faint aftertaste of pineapples from dinner, I pick up the cold silverware, ready to taste my surprise birthday cake. My mother gives me the first piece, and I hastily bite into the rich chocolate cake, savoring every sweet bite.

--Marie