10 The Icing

“What?” I say. “She wrecked everything! Noogies, paint, no present, my cake...”

“She tried her best,” Mom says. “And you wrecked her party.”

“Her party!”

“Parties are for guests too. Now get out there and apologize.”

Charlie waits in the living room. I shuffle outside. Aldeen is up in my play fort. She won’t look at me. My mom does though. I don’t get it but I don’t have a choice. I start climbing.

It’s tricky with cake in one hand. As I get near Aldeen’s foot, I wonder if she’s going to kick me. She doesn’t. She doesn’t make room for me either.

From the ladder I say, “I brought your cake.” She looks away and makes a long snork in her nose, the kind you make when you’ve been crying.

I say to her witchy hair, “My mom says I’m supposed to say sorry.”

Snork.

“But, like, you know, when you go to birthday parties, you’re supposed to be polite and not hit people and you’re not supposed to drop the...”

She whirls around. “It was an accident!” She has been crying. It’s kind of scary. It’s kind of sad too, I think. I get this squirmy feeling.

“I know,” I say. “Sorry.” That one just pops out, but it’s OK. I mean it. “But, like, you’re supposed to bring a present, too.”

“I did bring a present but it was too little. Here.”

She digs into her sock and pulls out a crumpled-up tissue. Inside are two little lumps rocking back and forth.

“Jumping beans,” I breathe. “Cool. I thought you can’t get them here.”

“I don’t need all of mine. These two are good jumpers.”

“Oh wow.” I look down in the yard. The rockets are already broken. The video game is boring. I have a squirt gun. The beans and the space-station kit are for sure the coolest things I have gotten. “Thanks, Aldeen.”

Snork. “S’OK.” She grabs the cake and starts eating. When she’s done she hands me the plate.

“I want some more. With ice cream.”

I start down the ladder.

Inside, Mom serves more cake. I decide I want some too. So does Charlie.

“Come see what Aldeen gave me,” I tell him.

Charlie grabs his goody bag. We take the cake and the space kit out to the fort and climb everything up. Aldeen scrooches over to make room.

“What time do you have to go?” I ask her. “Can you stay for a while?”

“Oh, I told my mom not to come until supper,”Aldeen says. She has icing on her glasses.

I start to say, “But the party ended at two.” Then I decide to skip it.

Charlie says, “Hey, there’s nothing in my goody bag but an eraser.”

“That’s OK,”Aldeen says. “I’ve got tons of stuff.”

For the first time I see everything from the goody bags piled in a corner. No wonder everybody looked unhappy.

“Guess what?”Aldeen says. “My birthday is next month. You’re invited.”