Chapter 2.47-Anything But Acceptance

         For weeks now Mariah had been planning on something special, a surprise for her Mom, something to cheer her up. She’d checked and rechecked the calendar, called Tibi to confirm the date, checked the calendar again. Then she’d began going to the grocery store day after day, nose pressed against the glass of the cake display making the bakery ladies wrinkle their noses at the mess she made of their sparkling clean glass. Well, most of the bakery ladies. One of the ladies would bring her a free cookie with pity in her eyes when she saw Mariah standing there staring at the sweets.

          Then Mariah had had to save her pocket money, squirrelling it away, counting and recounting it to make sure she had the right amount when disaster struck.
          Taxes. How was she supposed to know about taxes? Thankfully, the checker had said she’d throw in the few extra dollars to pay the taxes and sent Mariah happily on her way.

          The best part was the ease with which she’d been able to talk her mother into having a cake and candles for her birthday. Mariah had been fully prepared for her mom to shrug it off, or to be sad about it, or to act like it wasn’t her birthday- anything but acceptance pretty much.
          But Layla had been graceful and accepted it as her due giving Mariah hope that her mom might be making a bit of a comeback after everything.



 

          And then it happened. The moment she’d blown the candles out, her eyes had gone blank, and Mariah’s stomach sank to her toes.
          Was Layla unhappy? Or had the moment fled, taking Layla with it?
          Slowly, Mariah lowered her arms and stopped her cheering. A weather eye on her mom helping to keep her from running just in case.

          After a million minutes had passed, Layla finally looked down at the cake in front of her and Mariah sighed. At least she was still here, and there was plenty of evidence to keep her mom in the present. For now.

          Grabbing a knife from one of the kitchen drawers, Layla cut herself a sloppy, if generous slice of cake, muttering under her breath. Once she straightened up she threw a sneer at one of the silhouettes on the wall.
          “Great,” she said nastily. “Now I’m old. Old and alone.” Her scowl disappeared only when her eye landed on Mariah.
          Then she stumped around the bar, banging her plate on the counter top before digging in.
 Mariah waited to make sure she was still invisible before she tiptoed to the cake to cut her own slice. She held her breath trying to be totally noiseless.

          Her plans had all gone wrong. She should have seen it coming. Her mother was far too nice in agreeing to a birthday cake in the first place. And so her cake was as salty from her tears as it was sweet.
          But at least it was a cake, she hadn’t had cake in ages now, only the muffins she made with the little oven that ran on a light bulb. And they were no match for this.

          The sound of the front door opening made her sit up abruptly. She’d been so intent on getting every last crumb that she’d missed her mother getting up and walking off.
          Why would the front door be open though?

          Mariah scrambled off her chair just as Layla’s backside slide out of view of the windows. She stomped one small foot in frustration with a loud growl.
          “Now what?” She asked no one in particular. After all her work to make sure no one knew just what kind of shape Layla was really in here she was about to go wandering out in public while in a sour mood.

          But Mariah knew that wandering around town asking if anyone had seen her mother was a sure fire way of gaining unwanted attention. So instead she went outside to sit at the little chess table outside, hoping her mother would wander past so she could get her back into the house.
          Pretending she hadn’t a care in the world she swung her feet happily, and even allowed a small smile to play about her lips.

          She’d sat there for what felt like hours, tense and waiting, reading the instructions laminated onto the table in front of her. Over and over she read them, until they’d made sense. Reading them made the pain of her mother’s disappearance almost disappear.

          Once they made sense, she’d started practicing the moves the instructions detailed. Over and over again she tried it all out. Noticing the rhythm and beauty the pieces seemed to have when they all moved about the board, tandem and separate all at the same time, like an intricate dance. She noticed how if you thought about it, and thought about your next move, how you could fool your opponent. It was like her book about Seers and The Sight. Logic was her comfort. And here was logic, once again, coming to rescue her in her despair. Also, once again, logic made her forget how horrible and chaotic the world really was.

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          Fall had arrived and Mariah had spent days raking up the leaves until she’d finally managed to form this giant leaf pile she could play in.
          The cooler weather made goosebumps erupt up and down her arms and legs, but she refused to put on warmer clothes or a jacket. She didn’t have any that fit anyway.

          Not that it mattered. Every piece of clothing she owned was about to be too small. Today was her birthday.
          And it was going to be a great one too. She’d slowly been talking to her mom about it to prepare her and had managed to talk Tibi into coming also. Finally, she’d wrangled permission for Roger to be there to help her celebrate. It wouldn’t be the super huge Sweet Teen birthday party Kelci had had. Or even the blow out Andre’s parents had thrown for him. But it would be her party.

          Beyond getting even this tiny celebration, she also was happy because she would finally be allowed to do all those things the law said she couldn’t do for her own safety. Like cook. Or light fires without an adult. Not that Roger or her hadn't been doing all of that anyway.
          The best part was she’d be allowed to go where ever she wanted to after school before curfew without anyone wondering why a child was wandering around without an adult. All that time she could spend at coffee shops, or shopping, or at the park with no one asking questions. Being a teen was going to be wonderful.

          Tibi had come.

          Alongside Roger, her mother was cheering. In fact, Layla had really gone all out, making a small feast for them all to eat afterwards. There was a pizza, a pie, and even fried ice cream. Not to mention the bowls of candy and nuts she’d put out.

          ‘Oh, let being a teen be better than this. Please have teenagehood be better than childhood.’ She supplicated the heavens as the wisps of smoke from her candles rose.
          She might believe in the Watcher and His PlumbBob about as much as she believed in her Abuella Sabria’s ability to predict the future, but anything was worth a shot at this point.

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          Roger cheered loudly, along with Tibi’s whoops and hollers as the sparkles overtook her.

          And at last, she was a teen.

          Behind her, she heard her mother’s gasp.
          “Oh my PlumbBob. You grew up!”
         Which just made being a teenager totally make up for ever being a little kid.

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Filler. Sorry. But now we’re where we need to be to get this story moving along. I hadn't originally intended to do birthday's this go around, but Layla was pulling just perfect faces and I couldn't resist. (BTW- those faces were because there was a puddle on the floor. lol)

 A few quick notes-
     I never mentioned it, but Sabria and Santiago (Iggy’s parents) were forever fighting in game. To the point that to date they have divorced and remarried 6 times so far.  So annoying. I’m only mentioning it now because Sabria has finally passed on and Santiago has moved on.
     Cyrus and Phedra have both lost their spouses to old age at this point in game. In fact, Olivia died during Mariah’s party, which Cyrus was at (bloopers page y’all. There were quite a few people at this party you didn’t see.)
     Phedra has moved on so quickly that most people’s heads are spinning. Especially mine when I get the pop up that she’s engaged to Santiago. No. Just…ew. Not allowing that one to happen.
     Finally, Layla has finally completed her LTW to be rolling in cash and I used a Reward to change Iggy’s so he could complete his also. Originally, he wanted to be an astronaut. Poor dear. So it was changed to the perfect private aquarium which he fulfilled in about 2 seconds. Lol
     Mariah’s age up trait was Supernatural Skeptic. I’ve updated the Generational goals page with Tibi’s YA portrait and final traits and Ignacio’s final traits (I LTR-changed those too. Sue me.)