5
A fifteenth birthday shouldn’t be spent like this. Surely, such a grand age should warrant some kind of dance? Plenty of singing, and a jazzy cake at the very least. But Edna’s birthday was not going the way she’d dreamed, and for that, she blamed Mama.
How selfish she was. How thoughtless! Why now, after fifteen years, did the silly woman decide to go and have another baby? Mama was so old, it was ridiculous. And how on Earth was Edna supposed to get along with a new sibling who was so much her junior? The child had already messed things up by arriving today -of all days, leaving Edna, the birthday girl, all alone at home with nothing but the dog for company.
Yes, Edna felt thoroughly miserable, and was sulking.
Hang it all, she said to herself. Grabbing her shawl, she whistled for the dog and left the house. Edna wasn’t going to sit around and waste the day – her day. She was off to the fun fair.
It was August, and the seaside town’s fun fair was always busy on Edna’s birthday. Every year, Mama and Papa would accompany Edna on a trip down to the prom to eat candy floss. Then they’d ride on the bumper cars, and ever since she could remember, Papa would buy Edna a special little gift from the man on the penny stall.
Who would buy her that gift today?
Papa was dead. Mama was otherwise engaged. And for Edna? Life had lost its sparkle.
She was unsettled. She was looking for something.
As fortune would have it, that something was just about to materialise.