Birthday Candle Magic

Growing up in the Happy Acres Trailer Park in Allen, TX, was not idyllic by any long shot, and some days could be worse than others. The day Titus turned seven was neither festive nor special in any way. It started out just like all hot days in summer.

In the morning, his mom, Shelby, gave him a bowl of cereal. She told him, “Titus, it’s your birthday today, but you know that money is tight. I can’t afford to have a party or give you a present.”

“I know, mom,” Titus said. He had learned long ago that only other kids had birthdays that meant something, or that meant the kid got a party. Shelby had started telling him on his third birthday that August 13th, the day of his birth, was not a happy day for her. She did not want to celebrate the day that had ruined her life.

The bowl empty, he asked, “May I go play?”

“Yes. Come back for lunch. Your father said he might be over.”

He smiled. Maybe this could be a good day after all. He went to his friend’s trailer. Steve and his younger brother Pete were watching cartoons. Their mom, Ruth, was always nice. She was a very big woman with bright red, almost orange hair. Her sons were seven and three, and already showed signs of becoming obese. All Titus knew, was that Ruth always gave him food. Steve had many more toys than he had, and he was willing to let Titus play with them.

The big screen TV in Steve’s living room blared all morning long with noisy cartoons. Titus stayed until Ruth told him, “Titus, Shelby just called. It’s time for you to go home.”

Titus got up and was almost out of the door when Ruth called him back. She had a pained expression in her face. “Titus,” she began, “Come right back here if she is drunk, OK? She didn’t sound so fresh on the phone.” Titus nodded and walked back home slowly. Even from three trailers away he could hear his mom yelling at the top of her lungs. He could not make out any words, but it sounded as if his dad was there. Shelby’s voice was extra grating when he was there, as if she saved the vilest parts of her being for him.

It was just as always. Titus’ dad Leroy, a hulking black man of 6 foot 6 and well over 250lbs, sat on the worn out couch as Shelby raged at him from across the room. Leroy held a wrapped package in his hands. He gave it to Titus and sent him back outside.

Titus opened the present on the stoop of the trailer. Other trailers had porches, but his mom’s only had a couple of steps to sit on. It was a toy dump truck. Titus put it on the ground and pushed it around. The screaming in the house stopped. Although they always sent him outside, Titus knew what they were doing in there. It was always the same ritual. Except that Leroy had brought a toy for Titus today.

Leroy and Shelby’s dance of love and hate never varied. He endured Shelby’s screaming at him for a while. Then, he got up and hugged her until she calmed down. Next, they ended up in her room and made the trailer shake. Titus didn’t wait for the shaking to start once he heard Shelby’s voice grow quieter. He took his truck to Steve’s home. Ruth had said he could come back. Just as on all of those days when his dad showed up, Titus knew Shelby wouldn’t call for him until after dinner.

“How is your mom, Titus?” Ruth asked.

“My dad is with her.”

“I see.” Ruth sat down and looked him right in the face. “Isn’t it your birthday today?”

He nodded.

“I made you a little cake.” Ruth baked all day long. She said it was less expensive than buying cake from the store. She used any excuse there could possibly be to bake. For Titus, she had made a triple layered chocolate cake with seven candles on it. The candles had been used before, the wicks were already black before they were lit, but Titus didn’t care. They flickered gaily and it was fun to blow them out.

“Make a wish.”

Titus wished for a new mom.

“What did you wish for?” Steve asked.

“I can’t say. It would ruin the magic.”

A few weeks after his birthday school started back up. Titus had forgotten everything he had learned in Kindergarten. He had not gained any weight or grown over the long summer. His blond curly hair was matted and stood off in irregular dreadlocks from his head. His first grade teacher contacted child protection services after a week. She honestly wondered if Titus lived alone. He seemed so little cared for.

Suddenly things went very fast. The Sheriff came to Happy Acres Trailer Park with a woman in a three-piece suit. They looked around in the trailer. Shelby berated them in that special voice that she normally reserved for Leroy. The Sheriff took Titus with him to a foster home the same day.

A black overweight woman welcomed him into her home in the eastern part of Plano. Idell Marcassell had worked all her life as a social worker. She was now nearing fifty and realized that she had helped so many families that she never took the time to have one of her own. To make up for lost time, she decided to become a foster parent. Titus was her first child. His stay with her was meant for the short term, but she filed for adoption after only a few weeks.

Titus called Idell “Ma.” She had requested to be addressed in this way. She never knew why he had a little wistful smile in the corner of his mouth whenever he said “Ma,” but she liked it.



1000 words



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