“Did you remember the candles?” I piped on the icing roses and added “Happy Birthday” with a fancy flourish.
Holding up a small box, he shook out four pink polka-dot tapers. “Of course, here ya go. You’ve really outdone yourself this year.”
“Turn out the lights so we can see the flames better.”
I picked up the three-layer cake and walked into a darkened room of pre-schoolers loudly singing about smelly monkeys.
I woke suddenly from my wistful dream, the overhead lamp casting weak shadows. The only sound was the receding echo of the guard’s heavy boots.
Thin spiral notebook 
I really enjoyed this, even if it made me terribly and abruptly disheartened at the end =)
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Tara, this is such a great interpretation of the song. Love that you pulled one of the “themes” from the song. It’s a happy tale turned dark and sober.
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Fantastic twist in such a few words 🙂
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I’m glad you liked it, Helen. Thanks for stopping by.
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I’ll have mine with a twist please. oh, you added one. why thank you Tara 🙂
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I do like to keep people guessing. Thanks for reading Kath.
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I like the contrast between the dream and reality – definitely very jarring to wake up to THAT! 😦
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Good, that’s what I was going for, a dichotomy between happy and bleak.
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great twist and the opening descriptions took me in a direction that made the last sentence even more powerful.
Thank you…
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I’m glad I can still surprise you. Thanks, Lance.
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