“Your  birthday  is  in  about  a  week,  Angela,” Mom  said. “What  would  you  like?”

“ A  pink  cake,” said  Angela.

“Ok…” said  Mom, raising  her  eyebrows.

“And  it  should  be  round,” said  Angela, making  a  circle  in  the  air  with  her  pointer.

“Ok”

“Not  a  square,” Angela  said, shaking  her  little  head  full  of  tight  black  curls.

“Ok. How  about  a  new  dress?” asked  Mom.

Angela  stopped  shaking  her  head  and  looked  at  Mom.

“Dress?  I  want  a  party  dress. Red  or  pink  party  dress,” she  said.

“Sure  sweetie. We’ll  go  shopping  tomorrow.”

Angela  picked  up  her  baby  doll  and  rocked  her  gently  to  sleep. She  then  laid  her down  on  the  sofa.  She  stared  at  the  doll.

“Mommy?” she  said,  turning  towards  the  kitchen.

“Hmmm?” said  Mom,  through  a  mouthful  of  cereal.

“Can  we  get  Dolly  a  new  dress ?  Please?”

“Can’t  we  just  wash  her  dress  so  it’s  nice  and  clean  for  your  party?”

“No.  I  want  a  new  party  dress  for  Dolly,” said  Angela, hanging on  her  mom’s knee.

“Well.  I  think  I  have  a  few  ideas.  Will  show  you  something  after  I’m  done  with my  breakfast.”

Angela  tripped  around  impatiently  while  her  mom  ate  Rice  Krispies.  She occasionally  peeped  into  the  bowl  to  see  if  Mom  was  done.  When  Mom finally got  up,  Angela  rushed  to  pick  up  Dolly. Dolly had  a  pink  onesie  with  little  flowers  on it.  The  dress  was  dirty  with  clumps  of  grey  fuzz   all  over  it.

Mom  went  to  the  cupboard  and  got  a  little  pink  dress  and  a  silvery  gray  dress.

“Try  these  on  Dolly,” she  said.

Angela  took  the  dresses  and  looked  at  them  closely. “But  this  is  the  other  doll’s  dress,” she said.

“Just  try  them  on  Dolly,” Mom insisted.

“They  don’t  fit,” Angela whined, without trying the dresses on Dolly.

“Ok.  All  right. We’ll  look  for  something  tomorrow.”

Angela  scooted  away  happily.

When  Dad  came  home,  Angela  prattled  away  her  shopping  list  to  him. Dad  pulled  out  some  tiny  candles  from  the  pantry.

“Do  you  know  what  these  are?” he asked Angela, as he lit three tiny candles.

“Candles,” said  Angela.  Dad  let  some  wax  drip  onto  a  glass  mug  he  had  placed upside  down  on  the  dining  table.

“Right,” said  Dad. “Let’s  pretend  this  mug  is  your  cake”

Angela  giggled  and  climbed  onto  a  chair. Dad  stuck  three  candles  to  the  hot wax  on  the  mug.

“Now  it  takes  a  bit  of  practice  to  blow  them  all  out  at  once,” he  said, leaning over  Angela  and  placing  his  hands  on  her  shoulders.

“Ok  are  you  ready?”

“Hmmm,” Angela  said. She  could  hardly  sit  still  in  the  chair.

“One,  two,  three…blow!”

“Pfoo,” Angela  blew  feebly. The  flames  on  the  candles  danced.

“Harder,” said  Dad.

Angela  puffed  harder  but  she couldn’t  blow  out  the  candles.

“Let  me  show  you,” said  Dad. With  a  giant  blow  he  snuffed  out  all  the  candles.

“Here,  try  again,” he  said  lighting  all  the  candles.

Angela  took  a  deep  breath  and  blew  with  all  her  might. She  blew  out  two candles. She  blew  again  and  the  last  one  went  out.

“You  need  to  get  all  of  them  at  once. And  remember  to  make  a  wish.”

—————————————————————————————————–

The  party  was  just  two days  away.  Angela  got  a lovely  pink  dress  with  a  big  purple  flower  on  the  belt.  Daddy  had   ordered  a pink  round  cake. Everything  was  perfect.  Well  almost. What  about  Dolly’s  dress? Mommy couldn’t  find  one  at any of  the  toy stores.

 

On  her  birthday,  Angela  woke  up  and  looked  for  Dolly. She  was  hiding  under  the  comforter.  She  looked  pretty, despite  the old  dress. Angela  picked  her  up  and  thumped  downstairs. Mom  and  Dad  were  up  and  they  rushed  to  pick  up  Angela.

“Happy  Birthday  Angela,” Mom  said.  She  kissed  Angela.

“Happy  Birthday  Angie,” Dad  said,  taking  her  from  Mom.  He  threw  her  up  in the  air.  She  giggled  and  screamed  as  he  caught  her.

 

As  Angela  was  getting  dressed  for  the  party, she  got  an  idea.

“Mommy? Can  you  pull  out  my  box  from  the  attic?”

“Now?” said  Mom  surprised.

“Uh- huh,” said  Angela, a  smile  playing  on  her  lips.

—————————————————————————————

Party  time! Angela  held  Dolly  close  to  her  chest  and  beamed  at  everyone. Dolly was  wearing  a  pretty  pink  frock  with  a  small  rose  in  front. It  was  what Angela wore when she was a teeny baby.

Angela  climbed  onto  a  chair  and  stared  at  the  beautiful  cake  in  front  of  her.

“One,  two  three…blow,” Dad  said.

Angela  blew  as  hard  as  she  could  and  all  three  candles  were  out.  Everybody clapped  and  sang  happy  birthday. When  Mom  was taking  a  picture,  Angela  held Dolly  up. It  was  her  favorite  picture- Angela  and  Dolly  both  pretty  in  pink, eating a  piece  of  round  cake!