In the evening, while Brewster read out loud with Grace in his lap in the rocking chair, Charlotte made rice with peppers and sausage and baked an eggless but nevertheless inspired chocolate cake.  She thanked the gods for rising soda, with which almost anything was possible.  When dinner was done, she lined the entire center of the table with candles, placing the cake in the middle.  The room lit up with a warm glow, shadows dancing off the walls.  She inserted one smaller candle into the cake itself.

“You have to make a wish.  But think about it first.  A birthday wish is very important.”

“Do you think it counts five days afterwards?”

“Absolutely it counts.”  Ada squeezed her eyes shut then opened them again and blew out the candle while Charlotte wondered what wish could possibly make up for all that was lost.  Then Charlotte cut the cake into slices and the forks flew.

“And now for the present.”

“But this was the present.  That we got to have my birthday.”

“Your thirteenth birthday, that’s the difference.  You only get to be thirteen once.”  She slid a small box across the table.

Ada picked it up.  “What is it?”

“Usually the way this works is that you have to open it to find out.  That’s what presents are all about.”

Slowly, Ada opened the box.  Then she gasped.

“It really is gold ear drops.”

Charlotte waited just a moment, trying to keep her emotions in check, which was always hard these days.  “My father gave them to me when I turned thirteen.  He meant it as a very special and important gift, and it was.  Now I’m giving them to you.”

“Are you sure?’

“I am very sure.  Put them on.”

Ada fastened the tiny gold drops at her ears.  When she looked up, Charlotte had to compose herself again.  The drops turned a child with wild hair and a heart-shaped face into the vision of the beautiful woman she would become.

“Thank you,” Ada said and threw her arms around Charlotte’s neck.

Ada sat back down and held the box, looking into the candlelight.  She wiped her eyes.

“Would we ever get to meet your father?” she said out of nowhere.

Charlotte felt herself grow pale.  “He’s very far away,” she said.  And good thing.  “If he were ever here so that you could meet him, that would be a very frightening day.”

“It would?”

“Trust me, it would.”

“Does this have to do with where you went that you won’t talk about?”

“Oh my gosh, I hadn’t realized.  Question time is over.  No more.  None.  This time I know what the bugle’s going to blow and thankfully it’ll be taps.”

<>

In the morning, they wrote in their journals then started on sketches.  “For the first one, we’ll all write on the same topic.  Just to see how it goes.  What’ll it be?”