She knows the birthdays are what Ellie and Donna plan to talk about, mostly because they are using that singsong voice that adults reserve for things like birthdays and Christmas, surprises you’re supposed to be happy they are conspiring about. Ellie gives her a little squeeze on the shoulder as Sarah dries her hands on the towel and hangs it from the stove handle, says, “We’ll be out in a minute.” She’s not at all sure how she feels about the birthday. They hardly ever celebrated birthdays on the street. Sarah never really thought too much about it, just let her own and the birthdays of others, if she even knew about them, pass unacknowledged. She does remember the first year though. She hadn’t known the unspoken rules yet. She had told Ty it was her birthday, probably thought he might smile or even say, “Happy Birthday,” but he hadn’t. He had barely nodded, didn’t ask her how old she was or anything. Sarah had never mentioned it again. Now it dawns on her why the idea of birthdays might not have been so popular, at least with Ty.
