#1

She is awakened most mornings by the sound of honking. The bedroom window faces the intersection just before the expressway entrance, and long haulers mixed with local deliveries and school buses jockey for space by screaming a series of brass sounding blasts. And most mornings, she is not ready to get up yet, so she stays in bed and curses the noise and hugs a pillow around her ears. But is was different. Today when the horns begin to blow, she gets up immediately and goes to the window, throws it open despite the December cold and yells: It’s my birthday!And the long haulers and local deliveries and school buses all shout back their salutations and she smiles because she feels celebrated.