“Come and blow out your candles,” my mother called.
As soon as Steven turned around to head back to the towel, I leapt onto his back and with one arm around his neck, I pulled his hair as hard as I could.
“Ow!” he howled, stumbling. I clung to his back like a monkey, even with Jeremiah grabbing my foot and trying to pull me off. Conrad fell to his knees, laughing.
“Children,” Susannah called. “There’s cake!”
I hopped off of Steven’s back and scrambled over to the blanket.
“I’m gonna get you!” he yelled, chasing after me.
I hid behind my mother. “You can’t. It’s my birthday.” I stuck my tongue out at him. The boys fell onto the blanket, wet and sandy.
“Mom,” Steven complained. “She pulled out a hunk of my hair.”
“Steven, you have a whole head full. I wouldn’t worry about it.” My mother lit the candles on the cake she’d baked that morning. It was a lopsided Duncan Hines yellow cake with chocolate frosting. She had messy handwriting, so “Happy Birthday” looked like “Happy Bimday.”
I blew out the candles before Steven could try to “help” me. I didn’t want him stealing my wish. I wished for Conrad, of course.
“Open your presents, Smelly,” Steven said sullenly. I already knew what he’d gotten me. A stick of deodorant. He’d wrapped it in Kleenex; I could see right through the tissue.
I ignored him and reached for a small flat box wrapped in seashell paper. It was from Susannah, so I knew it would be good. I tore off the wrapping paper, and inside there was a silver charm bracelet, from the store Susannah loved, Rheingold’s, where they sold fancy china and crystalcandy dishes. On the bracelet there were five charms: a conch shell, a bathing suit, a sand castle, a pair of sunglasses, and a horseshoe.
“For how lucky we are to have you in our lives,” Susannah said, touching the horseshoe.
I lifted it up, and the charms glinted and sparkled in the sunlight. “I love it.”
My mother was silent. I knew what she was thinking. She was thinking that Susannah had overdone it, that she’d spent too much money. I felt guilty for loving the bracelet so much. My mother had bought me sheet music and CDs. We didn’t have as much money as they did, and in that moment I finally understood what that meant.
chapterthirty-eight
“I love it,” I said.
I ran upstairs to my room and went straight for the music box on my dresser, where I kept my charm bracelet. I grabbed the bracelet and ran back downstairs.
“See?” I said, putting the key charm on and fastening it onto my wrist.
“It’s a key, because you’ll be driving soon. Get it?” Jeremiah said, leaning back in his chair and clasping his hands behind his head.
I got it. I smiled to show him I did.
Conrad leaned in for a closer look. “Nice,” he said.
I held it in the palm of my other hand. I couldn’t stop looking at it. “I love it,” I said again. “But it’s from Rheingold’s. It must have been really expensive.”
“I saved up all summer to buy it,” he said solemnly.
I stared at him. “No, you didn’t!”
He broke into a smile. “Fooled ya. Gullible as ever, aren’t you?”
Punching him on the arm, I said, “I didn’t believe you anyway, jerk.” Even though I had, for a second.
Jeremiah rubbed his arm where I’d punched it. “It wasn’t that expensive. Anyway, I’m big-time now, remember? Don’t worry about me. I’m just glad you like it. Yolie said you would.”
I hugged him fiercely. “It’s perfect.”
“What a wonderful gift, Jere,” Susannah said. “It’s better than my old necklace, that’s for sure.”
