Today, Cody was happy. He had to be happy, of course, because it was his birthday. His fourth birthday to be exact. The morning light shone softly through the thin lavender curtains. They draped the window lazily, tattered with stickers and scribbles of marker. The whole room drowned in a shade of purple.

Normally, he would have woken up, crinkling his nose into a scowl as he was enveloped by all the femininity. He would have huffed, blaming his little sister, who slept nuzzled beside him, for the lack of blue. Not today though, because today he was happy.

With a yawn, Cody carefully unbound himself from his little sister, Sofie. He shimmied out from beneath the covers and gently tucked Sofie back in. Her auburn hair stuck out in odd angles, but one tendril hung in her porcelain face. Cody tucked the renegade strand behind her ear, and she squirmed, noticing the sudden emptiness beside her. Smiling at the funny way she hugged the pillow, the closest thing for her to grab on to, Cody clumsily planted a kiss on her cheek, and she fell still again.

Padding down the hallway, with his hand brushing the wall, he disappeared into the bathroom. He climbed atop the stool and carefully looked himself in the mirror. "I'm a big boy now," he declared with a smile.

He took his toothbrush in his hands and examined his choices of toothpaste. "Wa-ter-mel-oon," he read, picking up the short green bottle with a dancing watermelon. "And Mint," picking up the long tube that did not have the word 'kids' anywhere on it. Grinning, he opened the Mint toothpaste and squirted it messily onto his toothbrush. It wasn’t long before the spicy sting of the mint spread through Cody’s mouth. He let out hisses, but he kept brushing.

Cody spit out the toothpaste and gurgled water in his mouth, as he had seen his dad do so many times. Water flowed from the sides of his mouth and left him with a battlefield of soaked spots on his t-shirt. Exiting the bathroom like a warrior, Cody ran along to the kitchen with his head high.

The kitchen was supposed to be filled with warm smells of bacon and eggs, and waffles and whipped cream. Instead, the kitchen smelled clean and empty. With a frown, Cody realized his dad had not made him the special birthday breakfast. "Maybe everybody forgotted my birthday."

Cody’s bottom lip quivered as he ran to the couch and buried his face into the fabric. He absolutely could not cry. Yesterday was January 30, so today had to be his birthday, February 1, right? Sniffling, he ran his hands back and forth, occupied by how the fabric changed color every time. He couldn’t help it. The tears tingled his nose and slowly fell from his face. He rubbed them away, erasing their salty stains from existence as they left polka-dots on the couch.

Finally the barbaric growl of his stomach led his feet to the fridge. He let out a sigh, in love with the way his throat felt icy when he exhaled. He liked being a big boy. He just wished someone remembered. Cody’s hands inspected the contents. Then he saw it: cake. Suddenly, it occurred to him that no one forgot his birthday.

“It’s all pretend!” He gasped. The incredulousness shook his whole world. Only, there was one problem. He couldn’t carry this cake all by himself. Another groan from his stomach gave him a idea.


Running back to the bedroom, his shook little Sofie. “Wake up, wake up, wake up.” She opened her eyes, but her eyebrows knit together crankily. “Do you want to have cake for breakfast, Sofie?”

Her soft green eyes grew wide, and her mouth gaped open. “Cake?” Her grouchiness disappeared, replaced by the euphoria of dessert for breakfast.

Cody nodded. “Yep, but you needa help.”

Sofie scrambled out of the blankets, almost tripping over them as she climbed down from the bed. The two clambered to the open fridge and reached for the cake. Their shivering hands stretched towards the cake and got a hold of the cardboard plate. Exchanging a wide-eyed look, the two turned back to the tipping cake and pulled.

“Morning, guys,” a sleepy voice croaked. “Whatcha doin’ there?” A pair of eyes peeked through glasses. His left hand held an empty mug and in his right a newspaper.

Sofie shrieked, her high pitched two-year-old voice piercing Cody’s eardrum. They both let go of the cake, and without warning they were both smothered in a neat coat of blue frosting.

“ItwasSofie.” Cody blurted. Sofie’s green eyes welled up. She plopped herself on the hard, cold floor of the kitchen and began wailing. The frosting wasn’t purple.

“Cody. Jacob. Mitchell." The exasperation in his voice forced Cody’s eyes down to his toes. "What in the world are you doing?” Cody’s dad wiped the frosting off his glasses and crossed his arms, looking at Cody with one eyebrow raised. It was hard being a mother and a father at the same time.

Cody shrunk at his expression, taking a step back. “I wanted cake, Dad.”

His dad rubbed the bridge of his nose, exasperation fuming from his ears. “For breakfast? Are you crazy? You know better than that.” He reached out to gather Sofie in his arms. The frosting tangled in her hair pressed against her dad's neck, as she nuzzled into him for comfort. Her soft gasps for air whimpered through the hum of the fridge.

“It’s my birthday, Dad! I can do what I want!”

For a moment, he almost went into cardiac arrest at the thought of having forgotten his son’s birthday. “Wait a minute,” he began. “Cody, your birthday is the first of February.” Cody nodded his head with a ‘duh’ expression painted on his face. “Bud, today is January 31st. There are thirty-one days in January.”

Cody was speechless. His mouth hung open, displaying the gap where his two front teeth were growing in. “I brushed my teeth with spicy toothpaste for no reason?”

Trying to maintain his angry face, but failing, Cody’s dad let out a chortle and ruffled a hand in his son’s hair. “Let’s clean you two monkeys up.”

Cody licked some of the frosting on his forearm and smiled. Today, Cody was happy. He had to be happy, of course, because he was a big boy now.