Shirley beamed. Mrs. Hillier was okay.
“I must tell you, though,” the principal went on, “that throwing peas and pudding around and pouring milk on people are not the best ways to solve problems. In the future, find a teacher when there’s trouble. Or come to me. Understand?”
“Yes,” said Shirley.
“Yes,” said Jackie.
“Good,” said Mrs. Hillier. “You may go now. I’m going to call your parents.” She picked up the phone.
Shirley and Jackie left the office. They were still holding hands.
Chapter Eight: April
“NEVER HAD A BIRTHDAY party!” Shirley cried.
“No, never,” said Jackie. “I read about them in books. Winnie-the-Pooh had a birthday party, and Dr. Seuss—he writes a big book about having a birthday. And Ritter Bear makes birthday soup on his birthday. The bears get parties, it seems.”
“But you have never had a birthday party of your own?” Shirley said again. She just couldn’t believe it.
“No,” replied Jackie.
“Well, we’ll have to do something about that.”
It was early April. Jackie’s adoption papers showed that her birthday was on April 21. She would turn nine. At school, the Class Artist was hard at work on a bulletin board that showed the playground—and all her classmates playing on the swings, the slide, the seesaws, and the monkey bars. She had glued down cotton balls and coffee grounds again to show the clouds and the earth.
But now, Jackie’s birthday had become more important than the bulletin board.
“Mom,” said Shirley right after she had found out that Jackie had never had a party, “we have to fix this. We have to do something really terrific. She has to have a real birthday party, to make up for all the ones she missed.”
“What do you suggest?” asked Mrs. Basini.
Shirley glanced around, as if Jackie might be listening, even though she had made her mother come into the den with her and had closed the door for privacy.
“I suggest we do everything,” Shirley replied seriously. “We invite her entire class, plus Sessie and Joan. We get a clown or a magician. We play pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and musical chairs and have a peanut hunt. Cake and ice cream and presents, of course. Then maybe rent some cartoons to play on the VCR so we can calm the kids down before they go home. Oh, and goody bags. We can’t forget goody bags. And prizes and favors and balloons and party poppers and—”
Mrs. Basini began to laugh. “You’ve already got everything figured out!” she said.
“But what do you think, Mom?”
“I think it’s a lovely idea. Why don’t you plan the party and give it yourself?”
“Me?” cried Shirley. It seemed as if her mother always expected more of Shirley than Shirley thought she could handle.
“I’ll be glad to help you,” Mrs. Basini went on. “So will Dad. But it sounds like you’re halfway there already.”
“Well … okay,” said Shirley. “I’ll try it.”
Shirley hesitantly set to work. She went to the cabinet where the paper and crayons and Magic Markers and other art supplies were stored. She had to get started on the invitations and send them out. It was already Wednesday, April 2. Jackie’s birthday was in less than three weeks. Shirley didn’t want any of Jackie’s friends making other plans for Monday, April 21. She wanted them all to come to Jackie’s party.
Shirley also wanted to make the party invitations herself, but she felt pressed for time. She could never make each one separately. It would take far too long. So Shirley decided to draw a smiling clown holding a bunch of balloons and copy it in the library on the Xerox machine the next day. Then all she would have to do was color in a few things on each invitation, and they would be ready to mail out.
When Shirley’s clown was finished, she was pleased. She added his bunch of balloons. In one balloon she wrote the date of the party, in another the time, in a third the place. Under the picture she wrote in big letters:
The invitations were copied, colored, stamped, and mailed by Friday.
Shirley turned her attention to other things.
“How am I going to remember everything we need to buy?” she asked her father nervously the next day. “We need so much stuff—crepe paper, balloons, favors, candy, hats, ice cream, icing for the cake, cake decorations. Even more. What if I forget something?”
“Why don’t you try making lists?” suggested her father. “Make one list for food, one for decorations, one for the table, and so on.”
“Oh,” said Shirley. “Good idea. Thanks.”
So she began making lists.
And then she began looking for a clown or a magician to entertain at the party. Her parents helped her. Shirley made lots of phone calls, but she couldn’t decide between Moonstar the magician and Ho-Ho the clown.
On Saturday, April 12, Shirley was still trying to make up her mind. She was sitting in the den looking at two leaflets. One was an ad for Moonstar. The other was an ad for Ho-Ho. They both sounded like fun. Moonstar would pull candy bars from his hat and give them to the guests. He would let the birthday girl be his assistant. On the other hand, Ho-Ho would—
Ding-dong!
“I’ll get it!” shouted Shirley. She dropped the leaflets and ran to the front hall.
When she opened the door, her eyes widened in surprise. Standing on the stoop were two girls from Jackie’s class. They were very dressed up—party dresses, patent leather shoes, ribbons in their hair. And each one was carrying a present.
“Yes?” said Shirley, puzzled.
“We’re here for the party,” said one of the girls, whose name was Stephanie. Stephanie pushed past Shirley. Her friend followed. “Jackie?” called Stephanie.
“You guys are—” Shirley began, closing the door. But before the door was closed all the way, the bell rang again.
Shirley flung the door open. This time two boys from Jackie’s class were on the stoop. They were holding gifts, too. Beyond them, Shirley caught sight of Sessie and Joan. They were crossing the yard, presents in hand.
“What’s going on?” Shirley asked. She wasn’t speaking to anybody in particular, so nobody answered her.
The boys, Sessie, and Joan went inside.
“Shirley?” called Mrs. Basini.
Shirley turned around and went back in the house. The six children were standing in the front hall with Mr. and Mrs. Basini. Jackie was coming down the stairs.
“What’s going on?” asked Mrs. Basini.
“That’s what I want to know,” Shirley replied. “These kids keep coming over with presents.”
“Hi, Jackie!” Stephanie cried suddenly. “Happy birthday!” Jackie had entered the hall, and Stephanie thrust a present toward her. The other kids did the same.
“Today is my birthday party?” Jackie asked incredulously.
“Well, it’s not supposed to be,” said Shirley.
The doorbell rang again and three more kids arrived.
“I just love Saturday birthdays,” said Sessie. “People with Saturday birthdays are lucky ducks.”
“But Jackie’s birthday isn’t today,” Shirley told her.
“It isn’t? The invitation said April twelfth.”
Shirley looked helplessly at her parents.
“Oh, Shirley,” said Mrs. Basini, sounding disappointed, “you must have written twelve instead of twenty-one. You switched around the one and the two.”
“No,” whispered Shirley. “No, I couldn’t have. That was so stupid!” Shirley felt tears pricking at her eyes.
She looked at her mother. Her mother looked at her father. Her father looked thoughtfully at the party that was taking place in the hallway.
“Well,” said Mr. Basini, “there’s nothing to do but let the fun start!”
“But, Dad!” cried Shirley. She took her father’s arm and pulled him away from the kids. “We can’t have the party today! There’s no cake. There aren’t any decorations or prizes. I haven’t even deci
ded between Moonstar and Ho-Ho.”
“I know, peanut,” her father said gently. “We have to do something, though. All the kids are being dropped off. Their parents won’t be back for two hours. We’ll just play some games, and invite them to return on the twenty-first.”
“What a stupid mistake I made,” said Shirley, and she could feel the tears starting again.
“Don’t feel too bad,” said her father. “Everyone makes careless mistakes.”
“But I make the most of anybody. If I don’t pay attention to every little thing all the time—this is what happens.” Shirley swept her arm toward the front hall, where two more kids were arriving.
Her father gave her a hug. Then he said, “Come on. We have work to do.”
The party guests kept arriving. When every kid from Jackie’s class had shown up, Shirley said, “I have an announcement to make.” She climbed onto a chair in the living room and stood on it unsteadily. Piled on the couch next to her were Jackie’s presents. Jackie and her friends looked at Shirley expectantly.
“My announcement is this,” said Shirley. “Um … I made—I made a mistake. Jackie’s party isn’t supposed to be today. It’ll be in a week and a half. We don’t have any cake or ice cream—”
“Oh,” groaned the guests.
Shirley glanced at her parents who were standing in the doorway to the living room. Her father nodded encouragingly. He actually looked sort of proud.
“And,” Shirley went on, “we don’t have a clown or a magician or decorations or prizes. But we can play some games today, and when you come back on the twenty-first, we’re going to have one super-duper party. I promise.”
“Yea!” cried the kids.
“Can you come back?” asked Shirley.
Jackie’s friends said that they’d have to ask their parents, but most of them thought they could come back.
“Great,” said Shirley. She jumped off the chair. Then she said to Jackie, “I’m really sorry. But you know what you could do now?”
“What?” asked Jackie.
“If you wanted to, you could open your presents. We’ll hardly have time for that at your real party.”
“Goody,” said Jackie, “we can pray with new toys, too.”
Jackie began opening her gifts while Mr. Basini ran to the store and bought two boxes of Popsicles. When he returned, Jackie was still working on the presents. She wasn’t even halfway finished.
Shirley tiptoed over to her father and whispered, “I have never seen anyone open presents as slowly as Jackie. She peels off each piece of tape, never rips the paper, and then she folds the paper up and saves it in a pile.”
The kids didn’t seem to mind, though. Half of them were watching Jackie’s delicate package-opening process. The other half were playing with the presents she’d already opened.
Shirley sat down next to her sister. She was just about to say, “Maybe you could speed things up a little,” when Jackie paused in her work.
“Shirrey,” she said, “I’m grad you made birthday mistake.”
“You are?” Shirley replied.
Jackie nodded. “This is fun. We have two parties. A ritter one today on my not-birthday, and then a big one on my birthday. Thank you.”
Shirley hugged Jackie. “You’re welcome. And thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being glad about this mess I made.”
Jackie smiled. Then she added, “It is a nice mess. I rike it.”
Jackie’s present opening went on for twenty more minutes. Then, because the weather was nice, Mrs. Basini shooed everyone outdoors. She passed out the Popsicles. When they were eaten, Shirley led the guests in Simon says and red light, green light, and Mother, may I?
Before she knew it, the parents started arriving to pick up their children. As they left, Shirley and her parents reminded each of them to come back on April 21.
One week and two days later, Jackie Basini turned nine.
“Happy birthday! Happy birthday!” Shirley shouted as she threw the baseball alarm clock at the wall. “It’s your birthday, Jackie! Your real birthday.”
Jackie smiled sleepily. “Today I have birthday party, just like Pooh Bear,” she said, and yawned.
“Yeah, and what a party. Boy, will I have a lot to do when I get home this afternoon. I wonder if Mom would let me skip school today so I could—”
“No way,” said Mrs. Basini’s voice.
“Darn,” said Shirley.
Mr. and Mrs. Basini entered the girls’ room. “Happy birthday, honey,” they said to Jackie. They kissed Jackie and Shirley good morning. And Mrs. Basini added to Shirley, “I am so proud of the way you worked on this party.”
“You are?” said Shirley. “Thanks!” She grinned.
“But it doesn’t require time off from school. I’ll give you a hand with things when you come home. And I’ll set the table this morning.”
“Okay,” said Shirley. She didn’t want to spoil the morning with an argument.
When school was over that day, Shirley and Jackie walked home together. Shirley was positive she hadn’t paid attention the entire day. She knew this because at two-fifteen, Mr. Bradley had shouted, “Shirley Basini, you haven’t paid attention the entire day!”
Shirley couldn’t help it. She was far too excited about the party. She had a million details to think of.
When she and Jackie got home, Shirley hustled Jackie up to their room and told her to change into her party clothes. “And then stay here till it’s time for the party, okay?” said Shirley. “I’ll come get you. I don’t want you to see anything downstairs. I want you to be surprised.”
“Okay,” replied Jackie.
Shirley didn’t know exactly what Jackie was expecting, but when the guests started to arrive later, and Shirley led Jackie down to the party, Jackie nearly fainted.
She looked around at the living room, which was decorated with crepe paper and balloons. It was set up like a little theater so the guests could watch Moonstar the magician perform. Then she peeked into the dining room. Streamers crisscrossed the ceiling. A huge bunch of pink balloons hung over Jackie’s place at the head of the table. The table was set with teddy-bear plates and cups and napkins. Party favors and candy and goody bags were at every place.
Jackie drew in her breath. “Oh,” was all she could say.
“Do you like your birthday party?” Shirley asked her.
“It is perfect,” whispered Jackie, her eyes shining.
Everything about the party was new for Jackie. She had read about magicians, but she hadn’t seen a real one. She gasped when Moonstar began pulling candy bars out of his hat. Later, she played her very first games ever of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and musical chairs. When it was time to sit down at the table, Sessie had to show Jackie how to pop her popper, how to blow her blower, and even how to wear her hat.
And then the cake was served. Shirley carried it into the dining room. The lights had been dimmed. The room was lit only by the glow of the candles. Very softly, the guests began to sing “Happy Birthday.”
Jackie could only stare. Shirley thought her sister was going to cry. She set the cake in front of her. “Make a wish and blow out the candles,” she said.
“Make a wish?” Jackie repeated.
“For anything you want,” added Sessie.
Jackie frowned. She closed her eyes. Then she said loudly, “I wish for two birthday parties every year.”
“No, no!” cried Sessie. “Your wish is supposed to be a secret!”
“If it is secret, how does anybody know what I want?” asked Jackie sensibly. Then she blew out the candles.
When she was done, she looked up at Shirley who was standing by her side, holding the cake cutter. “Thank you,” she said, “this is best birthday of my rife.”
Chapter Nine: May
IN MAY, THE CLASS Artist started a new bulletin board. Shirley had had a hard time thinking of a theme for it. Some months had been easy because of holiday
s—Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day. Others had been easy because she could show the changing seasons. But May was tough. Shirley had already made a spring bulletin board, and she was saving the summer scene for her grand finale in June. The only important May holiday was Memorial Day.
Boring, thought Shirley.
At first.
But when she couldn’t come up with any ideas for May, she decided to find out what Memorial Day was all about. She had to look it up in three different books. Mr. Soderman helped her. It was, she learned, a day set aside to honor servicemen who had passed away.
It was a patriotic holiday.
Shirley thought and thought. At last she made a banner that she stretched across the top of the bulletin board from one end to the other. Her banner read: MAY 30 MEMRAIL DAY. Mr. Bradley looked at it. He helped Shirley to fix the spelling. When the banner was in place, Shirley turned the rest of the bulletin board into one gigantic American flag, with the right number of stars and stripes.
It was very catchy. And, thought Shirley, it said something. It was important. Furthermore, most of Shirley’s classmates didn’t know that Memorial Day meant anything more than a day off from school. Mr. Bradley asked Shirley to stand up and explain what it really meant.
Shirley was proud. Another good bulletin board, Mr. Bradley was pleased with her—and in five weeks, school would let out for the summer.
One day in the Resource Room, Mr. Soderman asked Shirley, “What are you going to do this summer?”
“Swim,” replied Shirley. “Ride my bicycle. Teach Jackie to swim and ride a bike. And, oh, I guess … read,” she added softly.
“What was that?”
“Read. There’s a contest at the public library this summer. You keep track of how many books you read, and at the end of the summer, the kids who have read the most, win prizes.”
“Well, that sounds like fun,” said Mr. Soderman. He smiled at Shirley. “I’m glad you found out you like to read after all.”