The Big Bicentennial Birthday Bash

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NEW PROMPT:
I would like to see a story (1000 words or less) or a poem (40 lines or less) that tells about a birthday gift or celebration that changes the recipient's life. It could be a good gift or a bad gift; a good party or a bad party; the change can be for the worse or for the better, but it has to make a drastic change in the person's life.
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“You going out again?” complained Lawson, watching his wife putting her coat on. “When’s that big, fancy to-do happening?”

Birdie barely glanced at him while heading toward the door. “I told you a dozen times already. The committee I’m on is putting the plans together for our town’s bicentennial birthday celebration.” She looked around just before opening the door to give her husband an instruction she had stressed for the past few weeks. “I’ll be gone for a couple hours, and all you have to do is make sure the girls stay in their rooms to do their homework.” With that, Birdie was gone, unknowingly once again leaving the fox to guard the henhouse.

* * *

An hour passed with an undercurrent of tension filling the second-floor bedrooms. Mae, who shared a room with Jean, silently anticipated what she knew would happen next. Unlike her mother and stepsister, Mae knew the reason why Thursday evenings frightened Anne. She waited for her younger sister to make her trip downstairs to the safety of the bathroom. For the last few Thursdays, while Birdie was away at the weekly meetings, Anne disappeared into the only room that could be locked from inside.

“There she goes,” whispered Mae, not sure if she wanted Anne to make it to the bathroom or not. She wondered if their stepfather would manage to catch her this week. Strange noises from Anne’s room some nights only whetted her curiosity.

Jean looked up from her homework to ask, “There who goes?”

Mae didn’t answer, just listened to Anne’s footsteps going down the stair. When they stopped, she knew her stepfather had seen Anne, despite her attempt to sneak past him. Mae crept to the top of the stairs to eavesdrop on their conversation, a smile growing on her face.

She heard Lawson’s voice say, “How’s my good girl tonight? Come and sit with me.”

* * *

Downstairs, Anne watched her grinning stepfather pat his lap, encouraging her to sit there. When he spread his legs, leaving his hand resting between them, she broke out of her trance and raced for the bathroom. Behind her, she heard his loud laughter and immediately locked the door behind her.

This was repeated week after week, whenever Birdie left for the ongoing planning meetings at the town hall. So far, Anne had managed to evade her stepfather, but fearing what would happen on the following Thursday was breaking her spirit down. She still had to figure out a way to avoid his frequent nightly trips to her room while Birdie was sound asleep downstairs. A drastic solution came to her for the first day of the town’s bicentennial-birthday celebration.

* * *

The big day for the town arrived one hot August day. In the center of the small town, helium balloons adorned every storefront to proclaim in large letters, “Happy 200th birthday!” Children, infected with the excitement of the day, pestered their parents, constantly asking, “When’s the parade going to start?”

Lawson and Birdie found places on the sidewalk where they could have an unobstructed view of the parade. Their three daughters had disappeared into the crowd of townspeople some time earlier. Mae and Jean found their friends fairly easily, while Anne quickly began her plan to escape Lawson’s unwanted attention.

In her pocket was a crumpled slip of paper on which was an address written in her childish handwriting. Earlier in the week, she had spent hours on Mae’s computer searching for a person’s name, or rather the address of that person. Now, with that vital information saved both on the paper and in her memory, Anne began moving out of the noisy crowd milling around waiting for the parade to start.

* * *

It took two days for Anne to reach her destination. When the sounds of the town’s birthday celebration faded into the distance, she had begun the long walk to what she hoped would be a safe haven.

She realized she was taking a drastic action, but she had reached a point where it was either escape from her stepfather or find a way to kill him. Many times during those two days, the following thoughts crossed her exhausted mind, What if I have to go back? Are they looking for me? Each time, she would push the niggling worry away and keep walking.

On the second day, an afternoon storm caught her out in the open and soaked her to the skin. She had spent the previous night sleeping in an old barn, sharing the warm room and hay with two Jersey cows. Stray bits of hay found their way next to her skin and stuck to her wet clothes even after the rain ended.

It was late evening of the second day when Anne stopped in front of a large house. She wearily read the name on the mailbox and knew her journey was over. When she saw some lights were still on inside, her small hand reached up and tentatively knocked on the door.

She heard footsteps coming toward her and was trying to straighten her ruined dress when the door opened. A tall, blonde woman stood there, looking down at the frightened child.

“Does Mr. Carrigan live here?” Anne’s question was asked in such a low whisper that the woman had to lean down to hear her. When the woman nodded, Anne’s second question was even softer. “Is he home now?”

The woman called out to someone behind her, “Honey, there’s someone to see you.” She then gently brought Anne inside, ignoring the disheveled, filthy condition of the strange child, and closed the door behind them.

“Who is it?” Anne watched as the man asking this joined them. She was shaking, from both the dampness in her clothes and fear she wouldn’t be welcome. In front of her stood her father, only mild curiosity reflected in his expression.

Would he let me stay or make me go back? thought Anne. Have I made a horrible mistake?

The sixth part of this story continues in the following entry:

ID: 1470819   (Rated: 18+) Out with the Old, In with the New  This is set approximately three years after "The Big Bicentennial Birthday Bash." by J. A. Buxton

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Microsoft Word count = 1,000

"The Writer's Cramp"  daily entry for 09/05/08
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