The Kingdom's Sandcastle by Luai Qubain

Author:Luai Qubain
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rare Bird Books
Published: 2021-04-12T19:30:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

I used to love my birthday more than any other day of the year. When I woke up on my sixth birthday, I was full of joy and excited fascination. It was a wonderful feeling of suspense, knowing that a whole day of fun and happiness had been prepared just for me.

Opening your eyes in the morning is so different when you’re a kid. When I was little, I remember having this huge amount of energy right when I sat up, and I would jump out of bed with a big, goofy smile on my face, and race my brother down the hallways to the stairs.

There was an extra reason to run on the morning of my birthday when I was a child, because I knew there would be a fabulous and delicious breakfast waiting for me downstairs. Plus, I knew that I was about to receive my morning present. If my birthday fell on a weekday, we usually did the birthday cake and presents around dinner with the rest of the family, and on the weekend right after, my mom would organize a huge birthday party for me with all of my friends from school. However, every year my mom took me aside and gave me a secret gift in the morning. That was always the best gift I got every year, because she was the only one who really understood me.

When I turned six, I had a pair of footie pajamas that I had spent hours meticulously peeling the rubber traction pads off the bottoms of the feet. The result was a smooth and satisfying slide down the marble hallway, well worth the extra effort of walking around the house.

I stopped my power-slide against the bannister, leaning over it as my feet lifted just half an inch off the floor. Then I heard my mom’s voice wafting up from the kitchen, mingling with the sizzling sounds of breakfast.

“Is that you, Louie? You up? Don’t you run down those stairs!”

“I’m not!” I called back, taking the last four steps in one leap and landing with an unconcealable thud.

I ramped up for another slide and set off down the hall toward the kitchen, zipping right past my dad’s office door where I caught a glimpse of him sitting at his desk, backlit by the windows that overlooked the garden.

“There he is! The birthday boy!” she said as I rocketed into the kitchen. I ran right to her, and she wrapped me in a huge hug like she always did, spinning me around once before letting me drop. “Do you want some breakfast?”

“Yes! Yes!” I babbled back, bobbing my head from side to side and vaulting up into one of the chairs neatly arranged around the kitchen table.

“Why don’t you run back upstairs first? Go look in my room,” she said, flashing me a smile as she turned back toward the maid making breakfast. “And bring your brother back downstairs with you!”

I leapt down from the chair as fast as

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