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Birthday Trip

Did you finish packing?” Sid asked, his voice low, full of understanding and quiet pride.

Tini, on the other hand, hid her worries behind her timid smile. She reached out, fixing a stray curl behind Dolly’s ear before saying, “Call us when you land.”
“Don’t worry, you two,” Dolly laughed, pulling them both into a big squeeze. “It is only a short trip.”

But they all knew it was more than that. A step. A beginning. A special place she had always dreamed of sharing with the friend who once crossed an entire ocean just to find her. Life had never been the same since then. Today was Gia’s birthday, a reminder of all the good things that were important to her.



The celebrations ended with cake crumbs on the table and wrapping paper everywhere, and that was when Dolly told her, “Get your coat. I am taking you somewhere.” She did not explain. She just grabbed their bags and gave that little tilt of her head that meant trust me.

The plane landed through clouds that looked like cotton pulled apart by the sky, and suddenly there it was, New York. The place with the high glass towers and the streets that never rested. The place Dolly used to escape to in her mind when half her world went empty as a child. Back then she survived in her mom’s quiet strength and the safety of Auntie Hope’s arms… but in her imagination, she always ended up here, between these buildings, walking fast and pretending she was brave.

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