The Birthday Party

Anna collapsed into the chair as soon as she made it to the break room. Her muscles ached and her uniform was a mess. She had tried to scrub off most of the cake that had found its mark on her shirt, but what was left was a giant stain. Her curled were frazzled and had long escaped from her tight bun.

Since it was the weekend the roller rink was understaffed. Anna took the job by her lonesome having been promised a bonus in her paycheck at the end of the month. She needed the money (five kids were not cheap).

It wasn’t the kids who had caused this mess, Anna knew how to handle kids. She had five of her own at home- teenagers no less. It was the parents who had worked her to the point of collapse. The mother and father of the birthday boy demanded that everything be perfect. Each guest in the party of thirty must be satisfied.

Their glasses needed to be full at all times; food needed to be delivered by five so the kids wouldn’t have dessert too late. When cutting the cake Anna had pushed down to hard with the knife and flipped the table onto her costing her most of the bonus. After everyone left she threw out the boxes which had held the little boy’s presents.

As Anna sat with frosting in her hair, her head in her hand the door swung like a pendulum.

Mattie walked through and sat across from her, still in her pizza sauce stained apron. The older woman patted Anna on the shoulder who looked up from her phone.

“You ok?”

“Ya, I’ll be fine. How are you?” Mattie shrugged like always, her demeanor was nonchalant. She woman reached her arms out and stretched causing her shoulder to make a loud popping sound.

“Nothing I haven’t dealt with before in my twenty years of working here. Who are they?” She pointed to the pictures Anna had been scrolling through.

“My kids,” and she pointed out each one. “Ace, she’s the oldest, she practically keeps the house from burning down while I’m gone. Then there’s Kingsley, the one who keeps Ace from burning down the house. Queenie and Jaques are always off thriving in their own creative worlds. My youngest, Tennessee is the reason we have multiple fire extinguishers for. We learned that the house needs two the hard way.” Anna smiled recalling the memory.

“They sound like a lot to handle.”

“Believe me, they are, but without them… I don’t know where I’d be.” Mattie raised an eyebrow silently asking for an answer though she didn’t push.

“My husband and I got divorced almost a year ago. I had everything I could ever want. Even my own restaurant. I didn’t understand why I wasn’t happy, until I realized everything had been given to me and I suddenly felt like I didn’t deserve it. So once the divorce happened I refused any charity from him. I would make my own life, I was already planning to move. I never excepted the judge to rule the custody in my favor considering my circumstances but she did. I imagine it’s because Mathew, my ex, is never home, he has to travel for work a lot. Though I still don’t understand why.”

Mattie looked up at Anna and smiled, “kids need more than food and a roof over their head hun. They need love most of all and it sounds like you’d do anything for them.”

“I would.”

“Never doubt yourself, who says you still can’t make your dreams come true.”