Little Molly Learns Something

Little four year-old Molly loved birthdays. She loved them so much that she remembered everyone's birthday, and she would ask strangers about their birthdays. What did they like to eat, she would ask. Where did they go on vacation for their birthday? Did they wear special clothes? And on and on.

Molly's mother let Molly watch the “Merry Unbirthday” song from Alice in Wonderland, but the song confused Molly. She didn't only like her own birthday; she loved everyone's! When her mother and father weren't looking, Molly would sneak birthday candles out of the stuff drawer and hide them in the lining of her jacket.

The day before her fifth birthday, Molly and her father went out to visit a farm that sold pumpkins. They sold the best pie pumpkins, so said the mother, and both Molly and her father wanted to help the mom make as many pies as she wanted.

The farm had a corn maze for families and adults, and a stacked hay maze for kids. The main house sat back from the road, and a new barn stood out near the cows. The kiddy corn maze was in the shadow of the old barn. That barn had an enclosure set up just outside the double doors, and on weekends the owners brought out docile animals for a petting zoo.

Molly's father kept a firm grip on her hand because she liked to wander off. Together they selected three good, round, cream-orange pumpkins. The dad carried two and Molly carried one all by herself. Then, because she had behaved herself and not begged for honey sticks or peach jam, the dad let her go over to the petting zoo.

The attendants cooed at how cute Molly looked. They asked her how old she was and she promptly answered, “Four! But I'll be five tomorrow.”

They wished her a happy birthday and told her how big she was getting. Molly watched them demonstrate how to stroke a chicken and how to safely hold a chick. She loved the baby chickens, but she shied back from a chocolate-colored calf that stood slightly taller than herself. She pretended that she wasn't scared, though, so she asked her favorite question.

“When's your birthday?”

The attendants each replied, not giving the year, and one of them suddenly smiled deeply. She crouched down beside Molly and pointed at a little goat. “See that kid?” she asked. “Today is her first birthday.”

Delighted, Molly clapped her hands, which sent the chicks and calf and piglets scampering away. Even the goat pranced backwards.

“It's okay, Sweetie, they won't hurt you. Just be gentle, don't pull, and don't make loud noises.”

But Molly felt bad that she had frightened the goat on her birthday, so she slipped out over the petting zoo fence to find a good present. Her father didn't notice; he was chatting with the attendants.

Dust swirled in the old barn and went up in puffs where Molly walked. She sneezed into her elbow. Her jacket felt too hot, so she took it off and draped it over a table. She couldn't see much because the barn was so empty and she was so short, but she could see a tool shelf with handles right at her level. Inside, she found a lot of stuff, and she found a box of matches.

She had an idea.

-

The father talked with the attendants long enough that he never noticed Molly's absence. When he started talking with them she was in the petting zoo, and when he looked back she was still in the petting zoo. Her father, therefore, didn't think to look at what Molly huddled over on the ground.

This suited the girl fine. She snapped a lot of matches and, when one finally lit, it surprised her so much that she dropped it; the flame died quickly. She managed to light another and hold it close to a candle she'd hidden in her jacket. She didn't have a cake to put it in, but Molly cupped her hand in front of the yellow-striped candle and walked up to the goat, careful just like the lady showed her. When she got near the goat Molly stretched out a hand and patted her on the long forehead between the ears. She held up the candle and sang her own version of “Happy Birthday” for the one year-old goat.

The goat looked at her sideways, then it snuffled at her hand and nibbled at the candle from the base.

Molly's father glanced back at his daughter and saw her singing to a goat who held a lit candle in its mouth, chewing the candle Bogart-style. His jaw dropped open.

“Hey now,” he yelled, which of course spooked the goat and made it drop the candle.

The candle landed in the dry straw near the edge of the petting zoo. The straw in the middle of the enclosure was too damp to catch fire because of all the people and critters walking on it. The edge, though, went up like a stack of kindling. The flames singed Molly's tights. She screamed and scrabbled backwards. Her father caught her up and joined the attendants ushering everyone and everything away from the flames.

A tongue of fire jumped past the enclosure. It shuddered in the wind and raced sideways. Right into the hay maze. A worker cursed and started pushing the blocks of hay apart. The maze was empty, so only straw burned when the bulk of the maze caught fire and leapt up in a great column of flame and ash.

“Call the fire department!” someone yelled. Someone else grabbed a hose from the barn and turned it on the flashing flame maze. Later, the firefighters told them that their quick thinking likely saved the barn. The fire didn't hurt any of the animals and it didn't burn any of the buildings.

Molly cried and cried that night. First, her father had scolded her. He hugged her tight and kept stroking the top of her head, but he yelled at her, too. Then, she had realized that her second-favorite pair of tights were burned. She had a small burn on her leg, too. Next, her mom yelled at her and said she would have to wait a week for her presents the next day. But worst of all, Molly could remember the fear of the animals running from the flame, and the fear in the adults who had been so nice to her. Molly couldn't stop crying.

The next day was her birthday, but little five year-old Molly didn't much care for birthdays anymore.