June 2nd, 1987

            It’s my birthday today and I am officially ten. But it doesn’t matter, because my father still hasn’t come back and my mother won’t stop crying. I think he left for real this time. He was always threatening her by saying that he would leave one day and never come back. Maybe that time had come.

            Even though she hasn’t stopped crying hardly, my mother took the time to make me a birthday cake and buy me a present. It’s a new pair of pants. That’s not what I wanted, of course, but I still love them, because I know how tight money is for my mom. A new pair of pants for me is like ten bars of gold for other people. I don’t know how many dollars that would be, but certainly more than I’ve ever had.

            The birthday cake was angel food with chocolate frosting. It had candles and everything, ten, just like me. My mom told me to make a wish before I blew out my candles, so I thought really hard, and made the perfect wish.

            Only, I can’t tell you, because then it won’t come true. And it has to come true, it just has to.

            I wonder if I’ll still have to work at the watch-fixing shop, seeing as how my father’s gone. I think my mom would like it if I worked there to keep it going, because it’s all she has left of my father. If I have to settle for being a watch-fixer to make my mom happy, then I’ll do it.

            I don’t feel any different, now that I’m ten and in the double-digits. But I guess I must be different. What else is age there for, unless it makes you different?

            Alright, I can’t keep it a secret any longer. I’ll tell you what I wished for.

            Right before I blew out my candles, this is what I wished:

           I wish that I was special.

           It’s going to come true. I can just feel it.

           Well, Mother is telling me that it’s time for bed. I won’t be able to sleep tonight, though. I’m too jittery from my wish. But I have to go. I’ll write later.

                                                            Gabriel