wildflower

[bulrushes]

On the doorstep of a little house in Forks, Washington, a basket is placed.

The doorbell rings.

There are footsteps, and then there are not.

Comments

[asmyown]

"No," snorts Lynn. "Not in any way that matters. But sometimes people forget, because it's easier to do whatever you like with a waiter or a child. So you get a better idea of how a person really is, when they have the chance to be mean to someone with nothing stopping them, and they don't take it."

[bulrushes]

"Oh."

[asmyown]

"I will do my best to make sure no one is mean to you."

[bulrushes]

"You're nice."

[asmyown]

Lynn laughs. "Thank you, you're nice, too."

[bulrushes]

"Yay!"

[asmyown]

"I will get you something nice for your birthday. To match." Pause. "... Which reminds me. You need one of those."

[bulrushes]

"A birthday?"

[asmyown]

"A birthday is the day when you were born, and it's common to celebrate it and bestow presents as a way of saying 'I am happy you were born.' Christmas is similar, but it's for everyone rather than one specific person."

[bulrushes]

"But we don't even know if I was born."

[asmyown]

"Yes. But I don't want you to miss out on presents, I'm still happy you exist. I just don't know what day that happened to start or the method that it started."

[bulrushes]

"It could be the day I basketed."

[asmyown]

"It could!" agrees Lynn. "Or it could be whatever day you want it to be, if there is a time of year that you particularly like."

[bulrushes]

"I don't know," says Astrid. "If we wait for me to see all the parts of the year it will just be the day I basketed again."

[asmyown]

"Hmmm. Then, do you want me to explain all of the seasons to you and see if there is one you like, or just go with the day you basketed?"

[bulrushes]

"Is the day I basketed a nice day?"

[asmyown]

"I thought it was, but I think I'm biased because that was the day I first met you."

[bulrushes]

Astrid giggles.

[asmyown]

Lynn smiles, too.

"I'll leave it up to you to choose when you'd like me to celebrate your birthday."

[bulrushes]

"I think basketing day makes sense. It is when I started being Astrid anyway even if I was somebody else before that."

[asmyown]

"Basketing day it is, then. I don't think I can manage to make you cake, but I will try to find a vegan equivalent."

[bulrushes]

"Okay."

[asmyown]

"And if I don't manage it, I can always bury you under presents."

[bulrushes]

"But then I would be buried!"

[asmyown]

"Yes, but they'd be presents!"