The narrow ridges of the navy blue corduroy met pleasingly in a V shape in the middle of the bib front of her new pinafore dress. She would wear it that day at the party for her eighth birthday. Her new navy-blue pinafore dress with a white blouse underneath. It was the first time she had had a new store-bought dress of her very own. It was the first time she wouldn’t be wearing a hand me down from her older sister, passed down from even older cousins.
The new dress promised that this birthday would be something special. And a party as well. Her mother had assured her that there would be party food for the dozen or so boys and girls invited. Besides the birthday cake, a chocolate cake, her favourite, with candles, there would be cheerios with tomato sauce, some potato chips and those dear little pink coconut haystacks shaped by eggcups. Her grandmother was bringing butterfly cakes, the sponge wings nestled in cream and raspberry jelly. Oh, it would be grand.
There would be games too. Musical Chairs and Pin the Tail on the Donkey with prizes for the winners. Just a small bag of lollies. Hopefully it would be fine and they could go outside and have egg and spoon races and three-legged races on the lawn, play What’s the Time Mr Wolf? and even have a Scavenger Hunt.
Although it was August, the weather was fine. The lawn was freshly mown and not muddy at all. There was hardly any wind and the sun helped keep them warm as they ran up and down, carrying their hard boiled eggs in their spoons and hopping in their sacks. Last of all, was the Scavenger Hunt. Small items had been hidden around the garden and when they had all been found there was still a little time before their parents arrived to take them home.
It was then that some of the boys decided to talk to the dogs tied up in their kennels and from there, they drifted over the fence to play on the hill. It was so much more exciting than playing on the lawn and avoiding the rose bushes. The girls followed them and soon they were whooping over the hills, running and chasing each other. Such fun they were having. Calling out to each other and laughing, slipping and sliding, tumbling over one another.
Then suddenly, amidst the laughter there was a cry of horror. A dear little brown puppy dog had been found alone on the hill. It was quite still yet it was still warm. It must be saved . “Quickly,” someone shouted. “It’s still alive!” Before they had taken more than a few steps, another cry went up. Another little, still, warm brown puppy dog had been found. Scooping that one up too, they made towards the house. But then there was another scream, followed by more screams. The hill seemed to have been raining tiny dead puppies, their little brown bodies so soft and warm, their eyes still closed.
“There must have been a terrible accident,” they said. But she knew, the girl in the navy-blue pinafore frock. She knew. Dad had told her that they couldn’t keep the new puppies. This was no accident. And now, not only were the darling puppies all dead, the children would think that her father was a monster. She wished with all her heart that he hadn’t chosen her birthday to fling the puppies down the hill.
What happened was... 