One Lucky Birthday

May 5, 19371

"Daddy," I whined. "I'm going to be thirteen on tomorrow and I want to go on the Hidenburg to New Jersey! Please! We are doing a big project on it! Wouldn't it be so neat if I could say I went on it! Please!"2

My father shook his head firmly. "We can't afford it," he told me calmly.3

I felt myself get angry and I stomped my foot. "We can never afford anything!" I screamed at him. He looked like I had struck him, dazed for a moment. Taking this as an opportunity to make a point, I stomped off to the room I shared with my little sister. 4

I slammed my door as I barged in my room. My little sister, Macy, was dancing around playfully, listening to the radio when I stormed in. "What is your problem?" she asked, turning down the radio. She fixed her messy hair and stared at me, knowing what I was going to say. 5

"Dad won't let me ride on the Hidenburg," I told her.6

"Mary," my eleven-year old sister said, sighing. "We can't even afford to pay rent this month! How is Dad going to be able to pay you to get on the Hidenburg? And, what are you going to do when you get to Chicago, huh?"7

"I could get back on and go back," I said, attempting to defend myself. 8

"That would double the cost," said my math whiz sister. "We really can't afford that."9

"You are always on Dad's side!" I yelled at her. I stormed out of that room and escaped to my secret place, a crawl space underneath the basement.10

I looked around at the little hoard I had surrounding me. There was a stack of five-cent novels and candy wrappers littered the little space. After stuffing the wrappers in my pocket, I pulled a weathered novel off the top of the stack and stretched out, as much as I could in the little space. I yawned loudly when I was about half way through my story, and dozed off. 11

I woke up with a start, hearing people stomping around upstairs. I jerked up, only to hit my head on the top of the low ceiling. I stood up and put the story back on my stack, then I dashed out of the crawlspace. Up the stairs I flew, praying that my Dad and sister weren't looking for me. "We were just looking for you," my sister hissed when she saw me. I must have looked horrible. I could feel the dried slobber on my cheek. Running my fingers through my hair, I felt the knots, knowing my hair looked horrible too. 12

I sighed. "Sorry," I said. "I fell asleep under the elm tree outside." I wasn't going to tell anyone about my crawl space. That was the only place I could really escape to. 13

"Found her," called my sister. I could hear my father’s feet pounding as he came to see I was okay.14

"Where did you go?" he asked. 15

"She fell asleep outside, under the elm tree," my sister said, butting in.16

"Oh," he nodded. "Well," he said. "Tell us next time you're going to go out and play something.17

"Yes sir," I said stiffly. I was still upset about not being able to ride the Hidenburg. "What time is it?"18

"7:36," answered Macy. "I'm off to bed!" She pecked Dad on the cheek and skipped merrily off, humming. 19

"Me too," I grumbled. I hugged my father and slowly lumbered off, not really tired, just wanting to get out of there. 20

I lay in bed until 8:30, waiting for my little sister's breathing to soften and become steady. Then, I slipped silently out of my room and into my regular hiding space. After reading two of my novels, and finishing off several pieces of candy, I was tired. I slipped out of room, and out into the quiet, empty hall. 21

As I snuck back to my room, all I heard was the steady ticking off the clock and the low snoring coming from my father's room. Feeling calmed down about the whole Hidenburg thing, I settled in my warm bed and fell immediately to sleep.22

****23

When I woke up in the morning, I decided I was going to go watch the Hidenburg land. I would take my best friend William to come with me, and I would try to snake on the blimp while they were taking a break.24

I dressed up in the pink and white plaid dress my aunt had given me for my birthday and I skipped downstairs. My sister was already downstairs still in her pajamas, sipping at a glass of orange juice. "Morning," I said cheerily. I opened our fridge and poured myself a small glass of milk, a treat for my birthday.25

"You're not supposed to drink the milk," warned Macy the know-it-all.26

"Well," I said, trying not to get annoyed. "It's my birthday, so I figured Dad wouldn't really care."27

She raised her eyebrows doubtfully, but went back to sipping at her orange juice. I smirked and sat down next to her, chugging my milk down in one gulp. It tasted very good, we weren't allowed to drink the milk very often, and it was too expensive.28

As I was getting up to pour myself another glass, my dad walked in. 'Oh no,' I thought to myself. He had his work boots on, which meant his boss had called him in to help them with the house they were building.29

"I have to go to work," my dad mumbled softly. 30

I groaned, but just nodded. "Okay," I said. Really, I wasn't that upset, it would give me time to go see the Hidenburg land!31

He walked over to me and kissed me on the top of the head. "Happy birthday. When I leave, check out my dresser, I left a little present there for you."32

I looked up at him, smiling. "Really?" I asked him excitedly, jumping up in down in our rickety wooden chair.33

He laughed, "Yeah!" He ruffled my hair and then warned me to stop jumping unless I wanted a broken chair for my birthday. "Bye," he called as he was walking out the door.34

"Bye!" my sister and I yelled as he left. I dashed into his room as soon as I saw him leave. When I got into his small room, there was in fact a package. It had brown packaging and a purple, my favorite color, bow. I picked it up, and almost dropped it! It was heavier than bricks! 35

I sat on the floor, pulling the books down with me. I untied the lavender bow, intent on keeping it for a hair-bow, and slowly ripped off the paper, trying to keep it in one piece, intent for using it to draw on later. After I was done carefully, peeling it off, I was left with a large, used encyclopedia and a thick novel of Shakespeare’s plays! I gasped loudly and squealed in delight.36

"Macy!" I yelled. "Get in here!" I think Macy though something was wrong, because she came thundering in, a look of fear on her face.37

"What? What?" she asked, looking around. 38

"Look what Daddy got me!" I exclaimed. 39

Macy looked down and saw the heavy encyclopedia and the thick book on top of it. She picked up the book and read the spine. "Shakespeare’s collection?" she asked, sounding bored. 40

"Yeah!" I said, a little less joyful now.41

"So?" she asked, and she shrugged. Suddenly, she perked up. "Let me get you my present!" She skipped off to our room and returned with a rag doll. "Here you go!" she said happily. 42

I took the poorly made doll in my hand, but I instantly loved it. "Thank you!" I said, wrapping my arms around her neck and squeezing tightly.43

"Do you like it?" she asked hopefully.44

"Yeah!" I said. "Thanks."45

"You're welcome," she shrugged. "It isn't that big of a deal, I bought it at the nickel store. Well," she said. "I'm going to Amy's house."46

"Okay," I said. I watched as she bounded out of the house. "Bye," I called. She was too far away to hear me. I smiled at my little sister and I walked to my room to put my rag doll away. Before I could put the rag doll away, I heard a loud, booming knock at the door.47

I stuffed the doll in my pocket and rushed to the door. I looked out the peephole and saw my best friend William standing at the door, something in his closed hands. I opened the door and pulled him in, locking the door after him.48

"Hey!" I said, giving him a big hug.49

"Hey!" he said back, rubbing his cold hands together. He coughed and pulled something out from behind his back. It was a red and black radio!50

“Oh William!” I shouted. I hugged him tight. “Thank you so much!”51

He turned three shades of red and shrugged. “No big deal.”52

“But it must have cost a fortune!” I exclaimed.53

He shrugged again. After I had run into my room and put my radio up, he asked me if my dad was going to let me ride the Hidenburg. 54

I disappointedly shook my head, but then lit up when I remembered my plan for the day. “Instead,” I schemed. “Why don’t we go watch the Hidenburg land?” I asked him.55

His eyes got big and he shook his head slowly. “That would be so cool!” he exclaimed.56

I laughed. “Well, we need snacks, and maybe I can take that spiffy new radio you got me!”57

“Yeah!” said William. I rushed to my room to get my new radio. I packed it in my white school bag and walked to the kitchen where William was. He already had two bottles of water and two sandwiches ready.58

"Good job!" I said, taking them from him and putting them in the bag.59

Together, we set out the door, heading for the landing port.60

*****61

We didn't have to wait very long. Soon, we saw the black blimp gliding towards teh landing port. William shouted out when he saw it, distracting me from my salami sandwich. 62

It fell from my hand as the enormous blimp sailed over top of us. Suddenly, I could tell something was wrong. A thin line of smoke trailed behind the tail, it suddenly growing thicker. The meadow we were sat in was packed, and people started murmuring and shouting. 63

Suddenly, the tail burst into flames. I screamed and put a trembling hand up to my mouth in fear and shock. In a matter of moments, the entire blimp exploded. 64

People scattered, but William and I still sat on the ground, in a state of shock.65

'Thank God,' I thought. 'That Dad wouldn't let me on that blimp.'