Roz sped down the hill, letting out a crisp scream as she did so. Her bicycle wheels whirled and her hands tightened around her handlebars. A smile made a bold presence on her face, and her two pigtails floated behind her like ribbons in the wind. Rain fell from heaven and sunk into her clothes and skin.
She finally reached the bottom of the hill, and she leaned to the left and turned the front wheel. Holding her breath, she watched as her bike got slower and slower until she finally pressed on her brakes and brought her feet to the ground.
No one had seen her fly down the hill because no one was out on a day like today: rainy, dreary, and sleepy. Roz, however, couldn't have felt more playful and energetic.
All around her, the green of the field contrasting with the gray of the sky glowed. Roz put her soaked feet back on the petals and began to ride through the grass to the sidewalk. As she glided through puddle after puddles, she thought about what else she could do to make the most out of this brilliant, wonderful day.
It was her eleventh birthday.
There was no way her mother would have let her play in the rain like this if it hadn't been.
And now, Roz knew from experience that in no time her day would be gone.
When she finally returned home, her mother told her to change clothes and sit in her room under a blanket for a while. "I don't want you catching a cold on your birthday," she had said. Roz rolled her eyes, but complied.
She lied on her bed under a soft blanket and grabbed her diary. It was almost full now with past testaments, but the cover was still as beautiful as ever, with lovely, beautiful lilac blossoms that she could almost smell. Opening to a random page, she began to read.
Dear Diary,
Today was the first day of fifth grade. I'll just tell you right now, it's SO overrated. I mean, my class doesn't even have any cute boys! Most of them are dweebs that I wouldn't even want to be seen with.
Mom and I went out for ice cream after school to "celebrate." Whatever. I hate stupid school.
Roz
She giggled a little bit at her words that seemed from so long ago. She was done with fifth grade now, and soon she'd have be starting junior high. After she had flipped a few pages, she began to read again.
Dear Diary,
Why does my teacher Mrs. Nicholas give me so much homework all the time? It's really starting to get on my nerves. Who does she think she is, anyways? I'm my own person, dang it! What if I don't WANT to do homework?
Of course, Mom and Dad will get mad at me if I don't do it, so I kind of have to.
Homework is just stupid, stupid, STUPID!
Roz
After this, she decided to write her an entry for today right then, though usually she waited until the end of the day to do so.
When she was done, Roz got up and played with her Barbie Dolls a little bit until she heard her father call, "Roz, cake!" Smiling, she raced downstairs and plopped down in a dining room chair.
Her family sang to her and then they ate. The sound of rain gave a tranquil background to their conversation, and Roz was suddenly very happy.
She stayed like that until bedtime, when it struck her that her day was as good as over. Roz sighed as she crawled into bed and turned out the light.
"It was such a good day," she thought. "And now it's over."
But, then again, there would be next year.
"Excuse me, Dr. Crane, but we're about out of time."
Another interminable radio show had finally come to an end.
"Well, Seattle, before we part ways today, I just wanted to wish a very happy birthday to my beloved producer Roz, and I hope that you will all join me," Frasier said.
A small smile crossed Roz's face. "Thank you, Dr. Crane," she said.
"You're welcome, Roz. Good day, Seattle, and good mental health." Frasier stood up and walked in to her booth. "So, Roz, what are you doing tonight for your birthday?" He asked her. She sighed and said, "Nothing really. I'm probably going to take a hot bath, eat some birthday cake ice cream and go to bed."
"What sort of birthday is that? Roz, I insist you come over tonight. Here, I'll call Daphne and tell her to make a cake, get Niles to come over, and we'll have a little birthday party of our own!"
Roz didn't really want to, but she decided to make herself. After all, it would beat her plans for tonight.
"Alright, I'll come. But promise me it won't be like that birthday party you guys tried to throw for your dad three months ago."
He laughed. "Roz, unless Seattle experiences a blackout again, I seriously doubt that."
She went home and changed her clothes, and just as she was about to leave, she remembered something. A package had come for her a few days a go from her mother, but she was under strict orders not to open it until her birthday. Roz grabbed the package and quickly headed out the door.
When she arrived, Daphne answered the door. "Happy birthday, Roz!" She said as she threw her arms around her. "Hey Daphne," she responded. "It's been awhile since I've seen you. What's up?" Roz followed Daphne through the condo and into the kitchen, where she was icing a chocolate cake. "Not much, just the same really," said Daphne. "What about you?"
"Not much has happened to me, either," Roz said.
Daphne nodded. "Well, Dr. Crane is out getting ice cream, and his brother is on his way. Mr. Crane is out taking Eddie for a walk, but I assume he'll be here before long."
Right on cue, they heard the door open and shut, and then the sound of jingling collar tags.
Roz went into the living room, greeted Martin, and sat down. "So Roz, what's new with you?" Martin asked her. "Well, not really anything," she said to him, "I'm another year older, but that's about it."
Martin laughed, and just as he finished, the doorbell rang. Daphne hurried through the living room and answered it.
"Hello Daphne, how lovely you look tonight!" Niles exclaimed. "Thank you, Dr. Crane," she replied. Turning to Roz, she added, "I just finished your cake. Now all we have to do is wait for Dr. Crane to get back and we can eat it!"
After a few minutes, Frasier did indeed arrive.
Everything they ate was delicious, even for such short notice. Roz was surprised at how much fun she really was having. Even Niles was civil towards her, and they all had good conversations and laughed together.
It really was strange.
When they were finished eating, Frasier gave her his gift.
When she smiled as she discovered what it was. "It's a necklace! Thank you so much Frasier!" She hugged him warmly and then got a better look at it. The pendant was an "R" with horizontal black and white stripes.
The others had nothing to give her due to short notice, so she took out her mother's gift, which was still in the mailing envelope.
She reached inside and took out a card with a picture of a moonlit night on the front. Roz opened the card and began to read aloud.
"Dear Roz,
I found this on your bookshelf shortly after you left for college, and I decided to keep it until I knew you would appreciate it. Now that you're so grown up and independent, I think it's time I gave it to you. Happy birthday, Sweetheart.
Love, Mom."
Roz groaned as she pulled out the book wrapped in birthday paper.
"What do you know, it's a book," she said sarcastically.
When she unwrapped it, she changed her tune somewhat. For inside that paper was her diary, with its simplistic lilac blossoms. "It's my old diary!" She told everyone.
"I haven't seen this thing since I was in junior high." She began to flip through the pages to see her childish yet neat handwriting.
She stayed for about a half hour longer, then thanked everyone, bid them farewell, and left.
As soon as she got home, Roz was sitting at her table, looking through her diary. She laughed at some of the things she had written about as a child. She flipped to a page near the end of the book, noticed it was a little longer than the other entries, and started reading it.
Dear Diary,
Today I turn eleven. Next year, I'll start sixth grade. I wonder, what did I think eleven would be like when I was younger?
Did I think I would be grown-up and pretty looking? Did I think I'd be super-duper smart? I don't know. I don't know if I ever thought about eleven at all.
Today I read some of my entries from a long time ago. I talked about the same things over and over again. Boys, blah blah blah. Homework, blah blah blah. Riding my bike, blah blah blah. Hmm…is that all I thought about back then?
But, I guess it wasn't THAT long ago. Mom and Dad talk about things from when THEY were kids, and that was a really, really long time ago. I don't know.
You must think I'm going nuts for writing this. Oh well. All you are is a stupid pad of paper anyways.
Roz
She laughed out loud as she read the ending, but slipped into the world of her thoughts after that.
At that moment she realized that she had the ability to answer the question she had asked so long ago.
No. She didn't think about the future when she was that young. All that really mattered to her at that age were materialistic things that really didn't matter all that much. Roz never thought about her adult life as a child, not like the other kids did, though. Girls had a warped vision of what they wanted to be from early on, but she realized that she never had.
"That's my whole life, isn't it?" thought Roz. "Things that don't really matter in the end."
She closed her diary and got ready for bed. Soon, she was under the soft sheets and blanket and was lying in the dark.
"Today was a good day," Roz thought. "Today was a good day."
