Birthday Blues (2 page)

"You've got to give it back to me on Monday."

Nikki doesn't seem to hear. She wiggles her fingers slowly to make the ring sparkle.

"Monday, Nikki," Deja insists.

"Okay. I already heard you."

Nikki is looking at Deja's citrine ring as if it is now hers. Deja wants to snatch it back, but it is firmly on Nikki's finger.

Mr. Delvecchio is sitting on a stool behind the counter reading the newspaper. He says he reads the entire paper every day. He'll tell you that every time you go into his store. "Helps the day pass during the slow times," he says before he lowers it to peer at Deja and Nikki. Occasionally Mr. Delvecchio comes from the other side of the counter to straighten the canned goods on the shelf. Deja suspects he might be checking to make sure they don't take anything. That doesn't feel too good, but she likes Mr. D. anyway. Some kids do take things, so that makes him be on guard.

"I think somebody's got a birthday comin' up soon," he says, surprising her. That's the funny thing about Mr. Delvecchio. One minute he's stern, and the next his eyes are crinkling with a smile and he's saying something nice.

Deja remembers telling him about her birthday last week. She always starts trumpeting her birthday early, so everyone knows it's coming.

"What are the big plans?" he asks with a twinkle in his eye.

"I'm having a game party—where we're going to play all kinds of games."

"Mmm. That's a first for me," he says before going back to his paper.

Nikki moves away to check the candy display, and Deja goes to the back of the store to the refrigerated case for a half-gallon of milk.

Out on the street, Deja walks backward. "Mr. Delvecchio remembered I have a birthday coming up."

"Who doesn't?" Nikki says.

"Maybe he's going to get me something. Maybe he's going to let me have free candy."

Nikki rolls her eyes and holds out her bag of hot chips. Deja reaches in and plucks a few out. "Let's go the long way back," she says. That would be down Maynard to Ashby, the street past Fulton, a left turn down Ashby, another left on Marin, and back to Fulton. "Then we can remember what to put on our map."

They pass Rick B's Junkyard, with its deadly looking fence topped with coiled razor wire. They always look straight ahead while tiptoeing by, hoping not to alert Prince, Rick B's ferocious and fearsome rottweiler. He is too horrible to even glance at, even though a chainlink fence separates them from him.

"Where you think Prince is?" Deja says in a near whisper.

"I don't care about Prince," Nikki says, but she looks over her shoulder and quickens her step. Once they are safely past the junkyard, she turns around and cups her mouth. "Hey, Prince! You ugly ol' dog," she calls out. "Who's afraid of you?"

They wait to see him charge the fence, barking and snarling and racing back and forth. But this time Prince doesn't make an appearance.
Must be sleeping,
Deja thinks.

They pass Perfect Beauty Hair Salon and Nail Emporium on Ashby. They peer in the window and see Mrs. Broadie, the cafeteria lady, getting her hair done. One side of her hair sticks out all over, and one side is slick to her head. They look at each other and burst into laughter. "She looks funny," Nikki says.

"Don't let her see you," Deja says, pulling Nikki after her. Mrs. Broadie can be mean, especially if you take an extra pudding or miss picking up the small bowl of green beans. "Get those beans," she'll say.

"Write this down, Nikki," Deja says.

Nikki pulls out her notebook from the pouch she wears around her neck.

"On our map we're also going to have Babe's Barbecue, Global Tire and Brakes, and Your History Bookstore."

Nikki writes quickly, then looks up.

"And Perfect Beauty Hair Salon and Nail Emporium..." Deja squints, thinking. "Oh, and Puerto Nuevo Restaurant."

"Wait, hold on. I can't write that fast."

When Nikki finally lifts her pen from her pad, Deja continues a little more slowly. "Rick B's Junkyard."

"I don't want that on our map," Nikki says.

"How come?"

"'Cause he's got that ugly dog."

"Prince can't hurt you just because we put the junkyard on our map."

"I know that," Nikki says. Then, in a quieter voice, she adds, "I just don't want to be reminded of him."

Deja knows that Nikki is afraid of dogs. If she sees one at the end of the block, she'll cross the street or go the other way. She doesn't even like to go to someone's house where there's a dog. She can walk by the junkyard only because Prince is always behind a fence. Deja doesn't say anything, but she plans to include the junkyard. It takes up half a block. It would be too hard to leave it out.

They walk on at a slower pace. Deja shifts the half-gallon of milk in her arms. "Anyway, Auntie Dee says dogs are more afraid of us than we are of them."

Nikki presses her lips together as if the notion makes her a little suspicious. "I don't believe it," she says.

After a while Deja says, "Don't forget Simply Delicious Health Food Store." She points to the other side of the street. It is Auntie Dee's favorite neighborhood store. Deja suspects it is because of the owner. Auntie Dee always seems flustered and gushy whenever he is at the register, and Deja doesn't like that. She never says anything, but it annoys her to see Auntie Dee acting so silly. She can't put into words just what it is that bothers her, though.

***

Back at home, Auntie Dee has bought them a bright yellow poster board for their map. They take all of their supplies out to Deja's front porch. Nikki carries the markers and rulers, and Deja brings the poster board and pencils. There they begin to work on different sections, in pencil first. Deja draws the lines for their street in the middle. Then they begin working on the streets around Fulton. At one point, Auntie Dee steps around them to go to her car in the driveway. "Good job," she says. Nikki is working on writing "Perfect Beauty Hair Salon and Nail Emporium" as neatly as possible, and Deja is coloring in trees and bushes.

Deja sits back to admire her work. She can't help but smile. She thinks of Monday morning, when everyone will bring in their neighborhood maps. She thinks of all the kids gathered around her and Nikki's map—and of the oohs and aahs and the secret disappointments about their own less beautiful maps. She pictures the maps on the thin newsprint that Ms. Shelby passed out to those who said they wouldn't be able to get poster board. She smiles, thinking about how great theirs will look in comparison.

Just then Nikki and Deja hear a low rumble. It grows louder, and they look up in time to see Antonia skating past. As she glides by, she squats down into a sitting position, then turns to look at Deja, without expression. Immediately, she's standing up again, skating off down the street. Nikki and Deja stare at her.

"Why'd she give me that mean look?" Deja asks.

"She didn't give you a mean look," Nikki says.

"She did, too."

"Maybe she knows about your birthday party. Maybe she's mad 'cause she's not invited."

"But she
is
invited. Auntie's making me." Deja purses her lips together. "Showoff. I can do that!" she says, though she just learned to skate two months before.

Nikki quietly goes back to their map. Deja begins working on the pond at Miller's Park. Miller's Park is where she had her last birthday party. She liked it because the pond has ducks. She remembers feeding those ducks with her daddy there a long time ago.

"You can carry the map to Marburn, then I can carry it the rest of the way to school," Deja says as Nikki comes down her porch steps on Monday with their map rolled up and held by a rubber band.

"Why do you get to carry it to school?"

"'Cause you got to have it last night."

"But I kept it rolled up."

"Come on, Nikki. It's almost my birthday. Plus I was the one who made sure we had a map key and a compass rose."

"It's been almost your birthday for the last two weeks. And I was the one who remembered the map scale."

Deja ignores this. "When it's almost your birthday, you keep saying it, too."

"Not like you."

Deja thinks about this. Then she remembers her ring. "It's time to give back my ring, anyway"

Nikki looks at her hand as if she's forgotten that Deja's ring is on her finger. She sighs, licks her finger, and slips it off.

Antonia and her daddy drive by just as Nikki and Deja turn the corner to Carver Elementary. Dyamond and Ayanna race over.

"Dyamond wants to know if she can come to your birthday party" Ayanna says right in front of Dyamond. Auntie Dee had said Deja could invite every girl in her class, but she didn't say anything about the girls in Mr. Beaumont's class.

"I have to ask" Deja says.

Dyamond shows her extra-big permanent teeth in a kind of half smile.

Deja watches Antonia's car pull up to the curb in front of the school. Her dad gets out, goes around the car, and opens the door for Antonia. Then they both go to the back of the car. He pops the trunk.

"Come on, Nikki. Let's get to the line" Suddenly, Deja is anxious to show off her and Nikki's creation. She can just hear everyone's "Wow"s.

"Put your projects on the round table" Ms. Shelby says to the entering students. Several have big poster boards, but none are as colorful as Nikki and Deja's. A few have the newsprint paper Ms. Shelby had passed out. The usual knuckleheads come in empty-handed. They have excuses, though. Ms. Shelby just holds up her palm. "Save your excuses. I'll know who hasn't turned in their map project soon enough."

The door opens, but no one comes in. It is Antonia, holding it open for her dad. It is hard for him to get through it with Antonia's enormous map in his arms. Ms. Shelby rushes in front of him to clear books and papers off the other round table. "You can put that here" she says.

Gently he lowers the map onto the table, then stands back, brushing his hands together. He gives Antonia a little wave and turns to leave.

"Wow" Carlos says, letting out a low whistle. A few children drift over to Antonia's map project, then several more follow. Soon most of the class is staring down at Antonia's spectacular three-dimensional neighborhood map. It has cardboard buildings, plastic trees, and the pond at Miller's Park is made out of slightly crumpled aqua-blue plastic wrap."Wow" Carlos says again, and Deja wants to punch him.

Deja glances at their own map under the pile of nearly identical poster-board maps. She's mortified to discover nothing very special about her and Nikki's effort, after all.

Deja feels her mouth grow heavy. She has to concentrate on not letting it sag at the corners. She feels embarrassed. Then she feels angry. It isn't fair. She could tell by the way Antonia's dad stood back and looked down at the map that he was looking at his own handiwork. It isn't fair! Not even a little bit! Deja catches Nikki's eye and sees her looking just as unhappy.

Ms. Shelby joins the students at the table. "My" she says. "My, my." She doesn't say anything else. Antonia stands back with a satisfied smile. She looks over at the other map projects, and Deja thinks she sees Antonia's smile turn into a smirk. It isn't fair.