The Birthday Party

“Hey, Catie. Happy 13th Birthday!”

“Your parents are getting divorced!”

What? That’s a weird way to say thank you, he thought to himself. His parents just dropped him off at the party. Everything was fine. Kids these days are so misinformed.

“Uh, no they are not.”

“Not what I heard.”

He was getting tired of his small town and its smaller problems that make room for big boredom and bigger rumors.

“Whatever. Can I put my coat somewhere?”

“Sure. Oh and you gotta try the cake!”

One nice thing about kids, they can change a difficult subject on a dime. Adults should take a page from this playbook more often.

“Yum, this cake is delicious. I love chocolate raspberry.”

“Me too! Hey maybe you’ll get two cakes now on your birthday.”

Damnit, why’d she have to come back to this. His parents were not getting divorced. Only yellers and fighters split up! The closest they’d ever come to fighting was when his father closed the soda bottles too tightly so they were hard to open. That doesn’t dissolve a marriage. It’s typical effect is a preservation of carbonation.

“I’ll have one cake, for my one house, and my one life.”

At that moment his fork slipped and knocked his slice of cake onto the floor.