Sad Flora

Flora ran out of the house into the back yard and quickly headed to her favourite place, her tree house. Tears streaming down her face, she climbed the rungs nailed into the tree and crawled through the doorway and sat on a cushion. This day had not turned out the way she expected.

Earlier that morning Flora woke with excited anticipation. It was her birthday! She leapt out of bed, put on her school uniform and skipped down the stairs to have breakfast. But, in the kitchen, her family were quietly going about their routine…eating, coffee, packing lunch. There was no “Happy Birthday!”, no presents, nothing! Had they forgotten? Flora sat at the table and ate her breakfast in silence. As she got into the car to go to school, she felt her excitement rise a little. She would see her friends and they would cheer her up.

At school, it was worse. Her friends, Britney and Tahlia, made no mention of her birthday either. Flora wondered whether she should say something but instead withdrew into herself. During lunch break Britney said, “You’re very quiet today. What’s wrong with you?” But Flora only replied, “Nothing.” The day seemed to drag. With each passing hour Flora grew more and more upset.

As Flora walked home from school, she intended to confront her parents and find out if they had actually forgotten her birthday. When she came into the front door, her mother was in her yoga clothes and grabbing her handbag and keys. “Where are you going?” asked Flora. “To yoga class,” Mum replied with a smile. She kissed Flora on the forehead and was gone. Flora went to find her dad but he was in his study with the door closed and she could hear his voice yelling at someone on the phone. Tears began to well up in Flora’s eyes. Her brothers barely noticed her walk past as they battled each other on a video game. It was all too much as Flora headed to the solitude of the tree house.

The tears flowed freely for some time before she was able to wipe her eyes and begin to breathe a little easier. As she focused and remembered where she was, Flora noticed something peculiar. There, on the rickety table her dad made with wood offcuts, was a small box wrapped in brown paper. “Where did that come from?” she mused as she picked it up to look at it more closely. It was plain and unremarkable, definitely not a birthday present. Then Flora found the two word message which simply said, “Open me.” She quickly ripped the brown paper wrapper and opened the box to reveal a note.

“For your next clue you need to take

A walk to have a strawberry shake”

Flora knew where she needed to go. She raced down to the main street and into Jimmy’s Shakes where she would often go with family and friends. In the second booth where they usually sat was another small brown paper box and a strawberry shake. Flora looked around but nobody else seemed to be curious about it. She sat down, sipped on her shake and opened this new box. The clue read:

“This cage is not for an animal

Only those with bat and ball”

The batting cages! Off Flora went. It didn’t take long for her to find a brown box under a baseball mitt and ball. Flora was feeling intrigued by this game and wondered where it would lead. And who had set this up? The notes were all typed so there was no handwriting to recognise. As she read the next clue, she knew exactly where to go.

“Shelves of books all in a row

Not to buy, but to borrow”

It took a little longer for Flora to find the box in the library. She thought for a while and realised her favourite section had the books on Ancient Egypt. She loved to research the Egyptian Goddesses. There on the shelf beside a book on Queen Isis was her box.

“See your reflection to check your move

Tap or plié, it’s fun to groove”

Off Flora skipped to her dance class.

“To and fro, up and down

Round and round, slide to the ground”

To the playground.

“To give your look an upgrade

Cut, snip, comb into a braid.”

To Minnie’s House of Hair.

Flora realised as she reached the hairdresser, she had been gadding about the neighbourhood for an hour or so. “At last!” she cried as she read this clue.

“You will find your final clue

Where smoke rises up the flue”

Flue? What’s a flue? Flora became anxious. How could she find a flue if she didn’t know what it was? She was walking aimlessly down the street, looking bewildered, when she heard a voice. “What’s wrong Flora?” It was Mr Crawford, her science teacher. Flora explained and Mr Crawford kindly told her it was the chimney from a fireplace. Flora thanked him and immediately raced home to the fireplace in the living room.

The house was unusually dark. It appeared to Flora that everyone had gone out and left her alone. A twinge of sadness washed over her as she picked up the box with her final clue.

“Turn around Flora and you will see

All your friends and family!”

Flora was confused. She slowly turned around and as she did….all the lights and came on and, “SURPRISE!!!”

Flora jumped out of her skin! There all around her were her mum and dad, her brothers, Britney and Tahlia, aunties, uncles, cousins and many more friends from her school and dance class. All the people that were most important to her were here, smiling, laughing and wishing her a ‘Happy Birthday’.

Flora’s parents gave her the biggest hug and apologised for making her feel abandoned on her special day and hoped that the surprise would make up for it. Britney and Tahlia told her how hard it was to keep this secret from her.

After all the feelings of being forgotten and tears of sadness, Flora finally had a birthday she would remember forever!