Prompt: June | Word Count: 300 words exactly | Genre: flash fiction
April 30, 2020
It still a month before her namesake birthday month and June despaired that she would not have the fiftieth birthday celebration she’d been planning for nearly a year. It was meant to be a big party, with all her friends dancing to live music, enjoying her favorite margaritas and Mexican food. She’d secretly wondered if she’d had been born a month too late, as Cinco de Mayo was her favorite holiday.
Even as she’d watched several other communities cautiously exit lockdown, she could that requirements of self-distancing, masks, and limited size gatherings that the party was not to be. She cancelled all her plans and resigned herself to celebrating with just her family. Sure enough as June began, shelter in place was still the order of the day. Though some additional work was permitted, gatherings were still forbidden.
Her friends rallied as best they could. On her birthday, they drove by with hats and blowers and large happy birthday signs in a huge caravan parade.
Then mysterious parcels appeared on her doorstep: a bag of tortilla chips, with salsa and guacamole were delivered with a note to please open at 6 pm. Next, all the fixings for a perfect margarita were dropped off. Around 5:45, a tray of her favorite tacos arrived with a card directing her to log onto a zoom call at 6 pm.
When she came downstairs her family greeted her wearing sombreros and handed her a freshly squeezed lime margarita. She joined the zoom call and was serenaded with a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday by friends from around the world, including many she wouldn’t have seen otherwise. She promised a party to end all parties when gatherings could resume and signed off happier than she been in months at her special birthday celebration.
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