DT 2021: Birthday Girl

Andra and her four remaining friends rambled amongst themselves near her front door, their eyes drifting occasionally to the parents mingling nearby as they slipped on their shoes in the foyer.
It was dark outside, a long day finally ending with a navy-blue sky swallowing the last daylight followed by puffy clouds flown in on autumn gusts. Despite it being her special day, Andra hovered at the edge of the half-interesting topic of "best" Sigma Octanus dog breeds based on hair length quality.
Sally, Trisha Anne, Mai, and Milly loved their dogs, something Andra was without. Maybe she would ask her dad for one on her next birthday. But her eyes and ears were elsewhere—pointed indirectly but full-in on how the dads hovered closer to the girls and the door while the mothers politely thanked Andra's father for the party and hospitality.
"Thank you, Mr. Bradford, for the wonderful evening. Your daughter is growing up to be a beautiful young lady," Trisha Anne’s mother remarked with a sweet smile that felt too practiced for its gleam. "I hope we can get together again soon."
Andra’s father nodded with a subdued smirk of his lips. Trisha Anne’s father didn’t say a word.
Trisha Anne’s father was quiet for the party's remainder after Neville Bradford broke out a pristine M295 semiautomatic rifle from a closet just off the kitchen proper. The gun stood almost as tall as the birthday girl. Just by placing it in Andra’s petite hands, the five-year-old could barely hold it up without setting one side down on the ground—the butt end at least after her father made sure she didn’t put the barrel to the floor.
Neville remarked on then about how he planned to take Andra to the range first thing in the morning to try it out. It silenced the parents even as some tried giving supportive nods.
There was the moment Andra’s babysitter Miss Kimberton fussed over Neville’s face after his coworker and family friend Naiya Ray splattered him with a piece of chocolate cake. It sent Andra and her friends into hysterics, briefly taking them out of their full-immersion karaoke game in the living room.
Andra swore she was the only one that caught her father’s brief, confounding look towards Milly’s dad when Milly made a loud complaint out of not being able to singalong to some Blam! song, Innie Drummer Boy by URF_Bobbi.
Even with the weird adult things going on in the background, Andra had a blast hanging with the entirety of the Bright Rock Beginner Girls’ Choir, Number Four through the day and even as the girls and their families trickled out of the party until the arrival of nightfall.
It was all over now. An exciting day came to an end.
"Andra, you need to get one of those Octan Shepherds! They’re so fluffy!" Milly proclaimed as she hugged the birthday girl.
"I’ll definitely do it," Andra smiled and made small talk into her friend’s shoulder as they held the embrace. The parents and other friends hovered on the porch nearby as Andra interacted from the doorway with her father at her side and as Miss Ray stood nearby. Miss Kimberton called it a night two hours earlier.
"No, a Starlight Poodle! Her-their hair is way-way-way fluffier." Mai growled out in defense of her own specimen.
Sally was the last to give her final well wishes of the night, pulling Andra in close and planting a quick kiss on the birthday girl’s forehead. "My mommy says kisses are for good luck. Happy birthday, November princess!"
Andra pouted and mumbled off in embarrassment as her cheeks and ears burned firetruck red.
Once the final family’s vehicle exited the Bradford driveway, Neville closed the heavy-wooded front door as his eyes trailed after Milly’s family vehicle lights down the suburban street. Turning to Andra, he picked up his daughter and hoisted her into a carrying hug.
"Alright, my big birthday girl, time for bed. You still got school tomorrow," Neville explained as Andra’s polished hair locks nuzzled into his shoulder. A yawn from Andra echoed over his shoulder. "I’ll put your gifts by your doorframe tonight and you can put them away when you get home tomorrow."
"Mm… Okay, Daddy." Andra whispered. Her head lifted off her father’s shoulder and he set Andra down.
Andra waved to Miss Ray as she trekked up the tall and often frightening stairway towards her bedroom, listening as her father and his coworker from Sigint made for the kitchen to wrap up the mess made by 23 girls and at least half more so of parents. Andra waited by the second floor railing, listening as the adults gossiped among themselves.
"I like coming to your parties, Nev. And I know you need your eye candy while Vik is gone—"
"Shut it, First Lieutenant…"
"But please warn me before we get into a discussion about politics with a Interior loon who thinks the UNSC started the war with the Covenant."
"I already told you that these are the parents of Andra’s friends. They’re not my friends. How am I supposed to know one is a Innie-sympathizer and another thinks Grunts are cute? I drop Andra off at choir practice, it’s not like I hang with their dads."
"Still, there’s a couple whack jobs in that crowd."
"Nothing I can do about it. And I’m not really inclined to report civilians up the chain if their only crime is idiocy and delusions."
"Yeah… On another matter, I noticed Viktoria didn’t get Andra anything. Or at least you didn’t say anything—"
A cold sensation bristled at the back of Andra's neck, freezing her body's sleepy, aimless bobbing. Even for a moment, she listened and grasped at every word.
"My wife takes care of her daughter her own way. And she’s over on Minab right now, I already looked over the most recent data metrics - the Covenant is well within striking distance of her so… Look, for one night I’d rather just not think about it."
"Alright, it’s just… Did you hear anything from Minab recently? I haven’t actually looked at the streams but it seems quiet."
"It’s usually a two-month turnaround so it’s hard to say what’s going on at any one time. Vik took care of Andra’s gift in June, she should’ve received it tonight from timed release…"
Andra finally tuned out her father and Miss Ray and wandered off into her dark and tiny bedroom. The cold sensation seemed to fade but a heat akin to embarrassment and guilt shivered in her stomach. Her mother’s gift…
The birthday girl glanced over to her mirror-side digital display and noted a new digital delivery marked with a cake icon.
From: Viktoria K. Bradford.
Andra hesitantly raised a finger to the touchscreen, her mind wandering to a vague figure of amber hair and heavily-tattooed arms. The caricature face was noticeably missing from her recollection.
Clicking the delivery, Andra’s overhead lamp flickered into projection mode, materializing a fuzzy turquoise hologram figure that stood like a mountain over the birthday girl.
"Hey Baby. I know I've missed your birthday again, I'm really sorry. Mommy can't come home yet; work is hard. Your dad told me you beat up a bunch of boys at school. Good job! I'm proud of you for standing up for yourself!"
Andra vaguely recalled tussling with three boys from the North Enfield Institute of Early Achievers in her first month of attendance. Something about not letting her play Infection with the boy’s basketball club. They called her some insult she couldn’t remember. She got a black eye, two boys got purple bruises and a few claw marks. One boy did shatter his glasses though. Not a proud moment, but a righteous one.
The hologram of Viktoria’s voice and form continued. "Your father is going to go ahead and keep this recreation file locked until your birthday but I hope you can appreciate its likeness in my place. It’s hard to record expressions for one of these simul-AI so I really hope you like it. Mommy loves you always. Be sure to send me a message to tell me what you think of it!"
Simul-AI? Like one of those hologram thingies that pretends to be person and is almost the same when done really well? Andra didn’t really know what to make of the gift. Her immediate instinct suggested she liked it, of sorts. The hologram remained frozen in place with a faraway look, staring towards the eastern wall of Andra’s bedroom.
Andra mulled over her new room occupant. Another yawn slipped from her lips. Bored and sleepy, she finally tried something.
"Sim-thingy, can you read me a bedtime story?"
The hologram seemed to flicker, fidgeting in place as it sorted through its expression database. It flickered over to Andra’s bed, Viktoria’s likeness gesturing with an inviting hand to the bed and cracking open a virtual copy of Mariner Dale and the 800 Worlds.
"Come climb in, Baby, I’ll read you a story."
Andra pulled off her tights and set aside her comforters to settle into her bed. In the dark, the hologram’s turquoise coloration glowed like a friendly ghost promising to watch over her sleeping form.
With Andra tucked in, the program began to read. "Mariner Dale and the 800 Worlds. By Heaven Phillips. Mariner Dale traveled the human spaces in his ship, the Apollo. He knew of every planet and moon that humans called home. There’s Earth, the pale blue dot where all humans come from. There’s Mars, a hardy red world where anything is possible…"
The girl’s eyes drooped as her mother’s voice completed the colonized Jovian Moons. Andra was soon sound asleep, her eyes finally closing as her mother’s voice reached Circumstance and it’s tropical fish-filled seas.
The AI shut itself down as its user retreated into dreamland. The turquoise glow hovered a moment longer, planting a vague kiss upon a birthday girl’s head.
In her dreams, Andra dreamed of the Apollo landing in her front lawn and a muscular, arm-tattooed woman climbed out to pull her daughter close.
"Andra. I’m home."
Category:The Weekly
Category:Short stories