by Fernando Mendez

Wrapping paper and ribbon is scattered around me, victims of my hunger. So far it has just been shirts that I’ll never wear, and board games I’ll never play. The air is filled with the sweetness of cake and laughter. But my heart is sour. A struggled smile is on my face while inside I’m a volcano.

My inner ten-year-old self screams, “Is this all you people think of me? A great gift! Is that too much to ask? I only turn ten once in my life for Christ’s sake!”

But wait…an envelope from my “Nana.” This is it. The moment I have been waiting for. She has never let me down before. I’m glowing with excitement as family and friends swarm to me like ants to a picnic. My smile wraps around my head knowing that there can only be one thing inside. The only question is how much? My eyes turn to glass as I begin to think about what I can get with my loot. I ready my body and mind for the sheer exhilaration which is about to come, and go in for the kill.

“What does the card say? Read it aloud,” my mother chimes in as my claws are just about to rip into my prey.

“It is from Nana,” I sigh. My focus momentarily falters, but isn’t lost. My mother’s insistence on manners will not ruin this one for me.

I hurriedly read the nonsense on the outside of the card, licking my lips and recapturing my killer’s instinct. As I open it, my manners are thrown aside as Andrew Jackson and his twin stare back at me. A yell rises in my throat and I can’t help but think of all the work I put in for my prize: the perfumed hugs, the red-lipsticked cheeks, and the many long pointless stories. Before I ask myself if it was all worth it, I glance over at my brother, the envy seeping through his pores, and realize that yes, it totally was.