Her Tiny World

Chapter 2. Birthday Gift

Gadry

I opened the window of the bedroom I shared with my mother. The sun's rays came through it illuminating the room. The first day of summer. That meant only one thing: the big day had arrived, my tenth birthday. I had been waiting for this moment for a long time. I got dressed in the best clothes I had, made my bed as fast as I could and ran to the kitchen where mom was making breakfast.

"Good morning, mom!"

"Happy birthday, sweetheart." She turned around and came to me to hug me. "Can't believe my little girl is getting older." She said as she hugged me tight.

"Today is the day that Mina and Ben are going to take me flying!" I said excitedly.

"Oh." Her voice was fading. "I had forgotten about it."

She turned to the kitchen counter. I sat at the kitchen table and started dangling my feet, anxiously waiting for my sister and Ben to arrive for breakfast.

"Oh, no."

"What's wrong, mom?"

"There isn't any honey left. I need it for the blueberries."

"I can go get more." I said promptly getting up from the table.

"Thank you, my darling." She gave me a kiss on the forehead. "Be careful out there."

I grabbed my bag with my tools hanging on the wall. A rope with a hook at the end for hanging, two hooks for climbing, a brown hood for camouflage, and a blade for slashing and fending off animals and insects. I put the camouflage hood on and took the hooks, opened the door and walked out. Each one of us lived in our own house in an open space inside a tree and each tree had several houses together and each house full of families. To get from one house to another we just had to climb the tree up or down and there were also ropes that went from one tree to another, which prevented us from walking on the ground. I needed to go to Mr. Rogers' house which was higher up the tree. He and his two children, the twins Corbin and Ellie, were always out exploring and looking for food for the entire village, so when one of the families was lacking something, they were the ones we would go to.

The day was sunny and hot, so the climb was easier and faster because the trunk was dry. The only danger was the occasional splinter of bark that could come off, but I was light enough for that not to happen. Depiste the fact that we could fall at any time while climbing it wasn't as scary as it semmed when you grow up doing it. First one hand, then one foot, then the other hand, then the other foot. I climbed the tree up going past seven doors until I reached Roger's house. Soon I was at the door of the house and so I opened it and went in. Corbin was in the living room cleaning his boots and Ellie was sewing some clothes.

"Hello!" I said putting the hooks in the bag.

"Hi, Gadry." Corbin said looking up at me. "How can we help you?"

"I would like some honey."

"We have plenty here." He smiled then went back to his boots.

"I'll get you the fullest pot we have." Ellie said as she went to the pantry. When she came back she handed me the pot of honey and I put it away. "Caramelized blueberries?" She asked.

"Yeah!" I replied. "How do you know?" I asked curious.

"Your mother makes the best caramelized blueberries in the village." She looked around and bent down. "Just don't tell anyone. They might get jealous" We smiled.

"Where's your father?" I asked searching the house with my eyes. "I haven't seen him in a few days."

"Well, he's been out for awhile. Too busy making sure everything is fine." She said.