Doctor Mosquito

5 - Acorn

The AA meeting was like the forty-seven others he had attended. Depressing people filed into the basement of a local church, whined about the same stuff, drank bad coffee, ate stale donuts, hugged and went home. Why did he bother? He never felt better afterwards. Just the same numb, hollow feeling of loss. And the desire for a hot shower.

When Pete got back to their apartment building he stopped in the lobby and scanned the mailboxes. Rodriguez. Martinez. Orr. Sanchez. Torres. Birch. Pete opened his box with the small key and was surprised to find a shoebox wrapped in brown paper and a pink envelope addressed to Sadie Birch. Christ. He had forgotten. It was her birthday. Wait. No, her birthday was on Thursday. He still had time. And this was a big one. Thirteen. A teenage girl. The thought filled him with dread, but in truth Sadie was about as far from a teenager as he could imagine. She was thoughtful, organized, and full of energy. She was the one holding their little family together and not him. In most ways she was the adult. Even when she was a little kid she was older than her age.

Pete remembered the party he and his wife threw for Sadie when she turned seven. Pete had just been promoted and to celebrate they bought a house in the north Chicago suburb of Wilmette. It was a huge step up from their condo in Rogers Park. The house was a brick bungalow with a fenced yard and maple trees in the front and back. His wife Eliana — he called her Ellie — worked from home and wanted them to be a part of the neighborhood. She joined the neighborhood book club, volunteered at McKenzie Elementary, and was a founding member of the Wilmette Wine Meetup Group which was basically the same group of women from the book club except that they had an excuse to drink wine rather than coffee. Ellie was always trying to get Pete to meet new people and socialize, but Pete was so focused on his work that he got home after dinner most nights and would just have time to catch up on the day with his girls before grabbing a nightcap and hitting the sack.

Ellie wanted Sadie to have a big birthday party in the backyard but it was more for her than her daughter. Sadie and Pete were two peas in a pod — both were happier with a book and a quiet corner than playing games or talking sports. Ellie hired a caterer and spent days decorating the yard with pink and purple streamers, two piñatas, a Slip 'N Slide — which went unused since none of the kids were allowed to get their clothes wet and Ellie forgot to tell parents to bring swimsuits — and four picnic tables covered with real tablecloths. None of that cheap plastic stuff. Even the dishes were real. Not a paper plate or cup in sight. Ellie dreaded washing them all afterward, but it was worth it to make a good impression.

Pete knew how important this party was for Ellie so he made a rare early exit from work and caught a Metra train. He remembered the look on Ellie's face when he stepped into the backyard — a twisted expression of exasperation, joy and relief. Why did she do this to herself, Pete wondered. Wouldn't it have been so much nicer to have a quiet dinner as a family with Sadie's favorites — sweet and sour chicken and white frosted cupcakes? No, this party was not for Sadie. Still, his daughter seemed to be having a nice time.

Pete watched the kids play in the yard. It looked like a political convention for the up-and-comers — a bunch of pretty children dressed to the nines pretending to be older than they were. They stood in small circles and carried tea cups on saucers filled with fruit punch. He wondered what they were talking about. Probably the latest iPhone app or the Power Puff Girls, but from a distance it looked like they could be discussing market fluctuations in commodities or the trade deficit with China.

Sadie's face lit up when Lucia, their housekeeper, came out of the house with her two girls, Kamila and Litzy. Kamila was a year older than Sadie, and Litzy a year younger. The two girls had adopted Sadie as their sister. It didn't matter that Sadie's skin wasn't brown like theirs or that she didn't speak a word of Spanish. They spent countless hours building blanket forts and playing dress up. And Lucia wasn't merely their housekeeper.