HELLO, I AM FIVE

Yesterday I was four and today I am Five. It took only one day. I thought tomorrow I would be six. “Birthdays do not work that way,” my Abuela laughed. “You will be five for three-hundred and sixty-four more days.”

I am only five but I can count and if yesterday I was four and it took three hundred and sixty-five days to get to five, then three hundred and sixty-four days are lost.

I wanted a birthday cake just like, just like, just like the one I got. I will roll my finger in the icing, squeeze it with my thumb, then plop it on my tongue. My tongue-elevator will take it fast to the roof of my mouth then swirl and wiggle it around. I will hold it there for a while then gulp it all at once. I wonder though, “Who forgot my other three-hundred and sixty birthday candles?”

There must be a zillion birthday gifts or surely at least three hundred and sixty-five. I can hardly wait to rip the wrapping paper off that orange and blue triangular box and look inside the funny round one that looks like a fat pig.

I like the orange, blue, pink, yellow, and green balloons that are floating on strings, tied from my swings. Each one has glitter that says, “Happy Birthday!” Who had so much air they could blow up a million balloons?

I am going to toot my red horn right outside my front door and when I do I know that everyone will want to hear more. I will sing, too, and maybe dance for Sue. I will share my cake and punch, even with tiny baby Jake.

Maybe every kid can have ice cream but something that I will not do, I will not do at all, is give away a single day that brought me to my birthday number five.

I bounce higher than anyone else in this big inflatable bouncy thing and if it had a spout I would not need a ladder to get out. Getting in would still be a problem though because a spout would not pour me in but only out.

Batmen, Barbie, Ken, and Captain Jack Sparrow joined in the games but stopped to take a nap. I don’t need a nap. I am five.

I was the most important person at my party. Everyone wished that I would have a happy day. They brought me dinosaurs, balls, and dot-to-dot coloring books and sang Happy Birthday to me. We played Old Maid, pirates, and house, but no matter where we looked, no one could find my missing days.

So, when everyone went home I looked in the bottom of my toy box and three hundred and sixty-four days jumped out and said, “BOOoooooo! You, whoooooo?” I scolded them and said, “Where have you been?”

I am five. Birthdays are pretty good. I did not have to do a thing -- ‘cept get born. I do not remember that day of course. My sister said it was a scream. I wonder what she meant?

I am glad that I was born ‘cause if I hadn’t been, who would have gotten my toys today? My big sis gave me a calendar for my birthday, counted three hundred and sixty-four days, and wrote a big number six with my purple marker. Wow! Can you believe she already knows which day I will be six? She is so smart.

I act older now that I am five. A year makes a very big difference in a short person’s life. Yesterday I was a silly brat but today I hung my coat and hat. I made my bed, cleaned my room, and fed my dog and cat.

Purrrrrrr. Meow. Meow.

Meow? Oh, wait. I don’t have a cat!

I am five.


© Coninc, TheBackyardKids.com, Short Stories For Short Folk (Library of Congress 1-147158261, pending)