Dear Abigail

Elizabeth parked her Jeep in a space near the bakery’s entrance and scurried inside. It was already half past noon. Precious, delicate time was slipping away. Inside, a towering woman with a pink apron and bifocals asked what she could make for her today.

“Are you Janice? I need Janice, please.” Elizabeth mumbled fetching a printout of her desired creation from her purse. The woman rolled her eyes toward the ceiling and turned to disappear through a set of revolving doors behind the counter.

Elizabeth glanced around the small shop her friend Wendy had sworn by. According to her, they made the best cakes in all of LA and had totally come to her rescue the time she had nearly forgotten her own daughter’s birthday cake.

“So, that’s a thing?” Elizabeth had sobbed into the phone receiver the night before. “I feel just so horrible.”

“Oh, honey everything’s a thing when you’re planning these parties.” Wendy assured.  She rattled off the details of Janice and her impeccable baking skills from memory. Elizabeth graciously jotted everything down and was now here in person with a printout and a prayer.

Between decorations, guests, and countless other details she could not believe the cake almost went unnoticed. It was literally the one detail her tiny Abigail kept going on and on about. It had to be a mermaid cake with glitter and stars, but with a magical unicorn horn because mermaids can get tired of swimming. So, the magical horn would help her fly instead. It was thoughtful and adorable. The most completely out-of-the box idea Elizabeth had ever heard a three-year-old come up with. She and her husband chuckled deciding it was every bit as unique as their dear Abigail was.

“Can I help you, hun?” A short, very pudgy Janice waddled through the revolving doors sporting the same pink apron and a face full of make-up.

“Yes. I really, really need your help. I am throwing a birthday party and I desperately need this cake made by morning.” Elizabeth gushed with more emotion than intended.

She spread her printout of the cake on the counter for Janice to see. Both women stared down at the three-tier invention for what felt like eternity to Elizabeth. Finally, Janice let out a small whistle.

“And what time again did you need this done by?” She asked not taking her eyes off the photo.

“By ten. Her party starts right at noon so the sooner the better. But, ten is the latest.”

“What flavored center?”

“Marble.”

There was more silence as Janice ran her thin fingers up and down the crinkled paper. Elizabeth chewed her thumbnail and glanced repeatedly at the cupcake-shaped clock on the wall. She had a meeting with the woman who would play as the party’s real-life mermaid in thirty minutes. Please do this her mind pleaded.

“Alright I can do it!” Janice shrugged.

“Oh, praise God!” Elizabeth wanted to reach out and hug her. But, there was a but. She could see it all over Janice’s face.

“But?” She dared.

“But, I need you to allow me to freelance some things. The shingles and those stars will take time.”

Elizabeth opened her mouth just in time for her cell phone to ring. The melody belonged to her husband. He was off with the caterer. She mouthed her apology to Janice and stepped away to answer.

“Yes, Chase?”

He spent the next two minutes filling her in on the details surrounding a catering deal gone wrong. The company no longer had the manpower to prepare the food by 11AM as planned. Two drivers had quit. Their cook was under the weather. They were offering a cancelation and full refund for the inconvenience.

Elizabeth stared blankly into space, unsure of what to say next. This was not happening. You couldn’t throw a party without food. The grilled dogs, cotton candy, and ice cream floats were perfect for her backyard theme. Reluctantly, she instructed her husband to cancel the whole order. They would retrieve the refund and use it to shop for the food on their own. No one in the city would fill an order so large that late.

Janice was still standing behind the counter staring down at the printout when Elizabeth returned. She was prepared to negotiate.

“So, this freelancing, can you make sure the cake has sprinkles, stars, shingles and the unicorn horn on top?”

Janice nodded pulling a pen and notepad from the front pocket of her apron. She scribbled as Elizabeth described the cake exactly the way her daughter wanted it. Janice told her to stop by at nine the following morning then swiped her debit card to complete the transaction. Elizabeth climbed behind the wheel of her Jeep once again. She zoomed to the other side of town only to arrive at her next appointment eleven minutes late.

The real-life mermaid was pleasant. She made no fuss over the time and was, quite frankly, a dazzling beauty. Elizabeth sat mesmerized by her perfectly tanned skin, freckles and cascading curls as the two discussed the terms of her contract with Party Palooza Figurez. It was a well-known franchise famous for sending just about any character you could think of as reenactments for parties. They even had trained lions for Lion King themed affairs. Elizabeth breezed through the conversation secretly wishing everything about the stressors of a birthday party could be handled with such ease.  She shoved her newly signed contract with the agency in her purse then scampered off to her next destination.

The next few hours whizzed by in a blur. Before Elizabeth knew it, she was standing in her kitchen surrounded by groceries. One by one, she emptied the contents of each plastic bag onto her kitchen table. Then, she began dropping entire packages of hot dogs into boiling pots of water on the stove. Next, she peeled back dozens of wrappers from pre-fluffed cotton candy and stuffed smaller portions into purple, sparkly bags. Afterwards, she arranged them on neon colored serving trays and stood back to admire her work. It looked wonderful. She could do this.

By eleven the following morning, everything was set to go. Thanks to the family’s loyal nanny, pink, purple and gold decorations were tastefully drizzled all over the backyard. Twelve small lawn chairs with matching beach towels and birthday hats lined the outer rim of the swimming pool. A mermaid decorated Happy Birthday banner clung between two trees with a large gift table in front of it. Off to the side, stools of varying heights bore fresh hot dogs and buns, condiments, cotton candy and many more treats. There was also a purple ice cream float wagon set up near the back door for the guests to use shimmering cups to enjoy. Even the weather fell into cooperation warming the pool with sizzling sun rays that beamed down over the blue water creating a gorgeous glow.

The party kicked off at noon as planned. Guests sporting bathing suits and cheerful smiles slowly filled the backyard and dropped gifts off at the table. Disney music blared over the radio. Parents mingled while their toddlers dipped in and out of the pool. Abigail bounced from guest to guest munching on goodies and tried guessing what gift they brought her.

“Did you bring me a Barbie doll?” She would ask and then pretend to palm her forehead in dismay as the parents laughed and asked her to guess again.

When her real-life mermaid walked in Abigail hardly knew how to handle it. She was busy chattering amongst a sprinkle of girls near the pool when the mermaid dove into the water with a loud splash. The girls all turned just in time to shriek. They could hardly believe the breathtaking figure emerging from the water with strawberry curls and a shimmering costume. Surely, she was the real thing! Parents applauded the grand entrance throughout the yard. The mermaid scooped a speechless Abigail in her arms and waded through the pool smiling and greeting all the other little girls.

It was finally time to sing Happy Birthday, but Elizabeth couldn’t move. She knew there was something missing but had shooed the thought off in pursuit of getting Abbigail dressed that morning. She had forgotten the cake. There was no cake! She sat amongst a few mothers with their feet traipsing in the pool wishing she could disappear. How was she going to recover from this?

Then, she heard it. A baritone rendition of Happy Birthday began, and her husband walked across the yard with the most beautiful mermaid shingled, star studded, unicorn-horned cake she had ever seen. He winked at her as she dried her feet and linked arms with him.

“I got ya.” He whispered.

Abigail blew out her candles from the mermaid’s lap with so much enthusiasm she nearly slipped off. Elizabeth laughed and clicked pictures but took just a second to take the moment in. It was the absolute perfect party. Her dear Abigail wore it all over her face.