It was Jasmine’s birthday.
“It’s my birthday!” said Jasmine.
She had been born seventeen years before.
“I was born exactly seventeen years ago!” said Jasmine.
Jasmine wanted to have a party.
“Yay!” said Jasmine.
“Darling,” said Jasmine’s mother, “your birthday is tomorrow. Go back to bed.”
“Oh,” said Jasmine. “Whoops.”
Young Princess Emeldatine sat in her tower, surveying the kingdom she would one day inherit. “When I’m Queen, I’ll make every day my birthday!” she declared.
Nurse chuckled. “You’d get old pretty quickly!”
“I’ll also have a pet dragon,” said Emeldatine. “Like the moldy one at the window!”
Nurse fainted.
Cowering under a table, Lee listened and waited.
They were coming.
Lee saw their socked feet move through the kitchen, past her hiding place. They stopped outside her bedroom door…
…then flung it open, shouting, “Surprise! Happy Birthday!”
She stifled a scream, scrambled out from under the table, and fled.