Home is where your Heart is

Birthday Surprise Turned Nightmare

When we left Señora Diaz's house, Dad was acting strange. He just seemed to be unfocused and giddy with eager anticipation for something. The next day he was still acting weird and it caught my mom, Jamie and I by surprise when he said he had made a hair and nails appointment for 4 o'clock at the salon. When it was time he practically shoved us out of the house.

"Why are you doing this?" Mom inquired of him.

"Because I appreciate you. Can't I do something nice for my wife and daughters?"

"What is up with him?" I asked Mom. But she looked just as bewildered as me.

"I have no idea."

Mom's new friend Lupe was waiting for us. "Come, come," she said eagerly. She ushered us inside and as we went to her station in the hole-in-the-wall salon, she ran her fingers through my hair and sighed happily. "You have such beautiful hair."

"Thank you," I giggled.

She did mom's hair first and then her nails and Jamie's nails. I waited for what felt like forever as she did each thing slowly, taking her time to get it perfect. When it was finally my turn, she sat me down in the chair and stared at me for a few moments, her mouth working as she thought.

"I am going to try a couple of things, alright honey?" I nodded. "Don't worry. When I am done, you are going to look beautiful!" Lupe got to work washing, trimming and then drying my hair. After that, she began to style it. Each way she tried looked good, but it got better and better. Five different styles later, my hair was in dainty ringlets pinned up on my head and Lupe was satisfied. Then she worked on my nails. Seeing the clock on the wall, I realized over two hours had gone by and I had a suspicious feeling Lupe was stalling for time. Never had an appointment to get my hair done taken this long before. Nails didn't typically take long either.

When we finally got home, it was dark out. In the house, I found a present with a card addressed to me lying on top. It was a birthday card from Dad. The puzzle pieces began to click into place and I looked at Mom to discern if she had known all along. She had obviously been in the dark as well by the look on her face. I eagerly ripped open the present and found inside the box a creamy yellow dress.

"Oh my goodness!" Jamie gasped, delighted. I ran to my room to change. When I was dressed and found a pair of heels to go with the dress, I took the pins out of my hair to let the ringlets down around my shoulders, but left the one that kept my bangs pulled back.

When I was ready, I opened the back door to a huge party in our backyard. One table was piled high with presents and others with food. Half the town was there including my whole team and everyone was dressed up.

When I came out, the Marachi band stopped playing and everyone's eyes were on me. Sammy Rosaldo held a microphone and he spoke. "Señoras y Señores, Miss Julie White." While everyone clapped, Thomas stepped forward and offered me his hand. I took it and stepped down the two steps to stand next to him. He made me twirl once and I was smiling so much my cheeks began to hurt.

"So pretty," I heard Señor Diaz say to Señora Diaz.

Thomas walked me over to my dad who was given the microphone by Sammy. "Time to talk papacito."

"First, I would like to thank the Rosaldo family who were so kind to help me put this together. And to everyone who has been so generous to us along the way, muchas gracias por todo." Everyone chuckled at his use of Spanish knowing very well he didn't speak it. I only knew it from learning it in school. He did not have the same advantage. "And muchas gracias for being here tonight to celebrate with us a very special birthday for my daughter. In your culture, you have a quinceañera to celebrate when a girl turns fifteen. You celebrate the transition of a young girl becoming a young woman. White people tend to have a Sweet Sixteen which is basically the same thing just a year later.