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Nearly bursting with giddiness, Josh flourished a large golden menu at her. Taking the surprisingly heavy menu, Carolina opened it up and stared dumbfounded at the pages.

“It’s blank.”  She looked up at Josh, her brow furrowed.

“It’s what?”  He snatched the menu from her and groaned.  “Oh, I hate it when it thinks it has a sense of humor.”  He glared at the blank pages.  “You’re not funny at all, you know.  It took a lot of courage to come over here from Comfort.”

The pages fluttered, flicking him in the nose.  Frowning, Josh tucked the menu under his arm.  “Do you need something to nibble on?” he asked.  “This could take awhile.”

Carolina glanced around.  All the other diners were enjoying tea sandwiches sculpted from bread made to look like swans on pools of soup or butterflies landing on salads with roses crafted from tomatoes.  Others were enjoying enormous ice cream sundaes and tiny slider hamburgers or kebabs of meatballs drowned in BBQ sauce with literally tiny red buckets of creamed corn and potato salad.  Some were dining on biscuits and jam with mountains of fluffy eggs, others on bowls of pudding sprinkled with every cookie imaginable.

She wished she had her chicken fingers and macaroni and cheese.

“No, I’m fine,” she said, looking longingly at one one’s plate, which had some sort of cheese pasta sprinkled with bacon and green specks of something.  She could almost taste the macaroni at comfort, the rich cheddar….

“Well, we have to find it,” Josh said briskly, marching to the pond and peering into a frog’s mouth.  “It’s around here somewhere.”

“What is?”  Carolina tore her glance away from the pasta, ignoring her rumbling stomach.

“The menu, of course,” Josh replied impatiently.  He inspected a disgruntled swan’s foot. “Help me look, would you?”

Carolina blinked.  “The menu is missing?  It’s somewhere around here?”

“That’s right.”  Josh crawled under one of the tables.  “It could be anywhere or be anything.  One time, it was hiding in the chandelier.  Another time, it hid under a little girl’s tap shoes so the poor girl had to do a whole 4 minute dance if anyone wanted to hear the menu.  And one time, it hid in a cat who demanded fresh liver pate anytime it had to mew out the day’s specials.”  He scowled.  “It was a very rude cat.”

Carolina shifted, fingering her pink dress.  “Josh, I don’t think I like it here.  I want to go back to Comfort.”

“You can go to Comfort tomorrow,” Josh replied absently, checking underneath an bemused customer’s salad plate.  “You wanted to try Whimsy today.”

Carolina bit her lip.  “Well I’ve changed my mind.  And it’s my birthday, so I have every right to do that.”

“You have every right to do that whether it’s your birthday or not.”  Josh stood, meeting her eyes.  “It’s just…”

She crossed her arms, looking more eight than eighteen.  “Just what?  I want my chicken tenders and macaroni and peanut butter cookies.  Since my grandmother hasn’t shown up and lunch was supposed to be nearly an hour ago, at least you can give me that.”

Josh held up his hands.  “Carolina, every day since you were little, you’ve had the same thing for lunch.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Carolina demanded.

“Nothing is wrong.”  Josh eyed her.  “But nothing is right either.  I thought you wanted to take a chance, have an adventure.  You liked Whimsy five minutes ago.”

“That was before I realized I was going to have to go on a search and rescue mission just to order!”  Her lower lip trembled.  “Josh, please.  It’s my birthday, and I’m very hungry.  I’ve got no one to eat with and a terribly boring party at my mother’s to suffer through tonight, one with all my parents’ stuffy elegant friends.  And they’ll make me eat something disgusting, like caviar or foie gras or stuffed duck.  They won’t let me have a party with my friends or just go out for pizza or tacos. I just want some macaroni and cheese.  I just want some comfort.”

Josh sighed.  “As you wish.”  Glaring at the menu under his arm, he demanded, “See what you did?  She could have had a perfectly lovely birthday filled with all sorts of magic.  And you’ve reduced her to macaroni and cheese.”

The menu’s pages drooped and rose and fell with a silent sigh.  Grumbling under his breath, Josh tossed it on the cobblestones surrounding the Pond.  “Come on, Carolina.  I’ll take you back to Emmaline.”

“Thank you.”  Ignoring the tiny prick of disappointment in her heart, Carolina licked her lips at the thought of that creamy macaroni and cheese.  Suddenly, a symphony of racket burst out behind her.  Whirling around, she saw a band of frogs on a lilly pad bashing symbols made from tea pot lids, banging on copper pots with forks as large as them and playing guitars made from rubber bands and wooden spoons.

“Happy Birthday to you,” they sang.  “Happy Birthday to you.  Happy Birthday dear Carolina….and here’s a menu for you!”

As she gaped at the tiny band, a frog stepped forward and took a deep breath.

“For appetizers we have hot dogs on a stick or artichoke and spinach dip with chips made like ships.  For salads we have ones for rabbits or humans, depending on whether you like mouse droppings or olives.  We have plenty of soups in every flavor and color, sandwiches with turkey and sandwiches made from butter.  We have fried chicken and baked chicken and chicken a la king; beef tenderloin and beef tacos and plenty of beef that’s rather mean.  We have lamb gyros and cinnamon churros and and cheesecake with scones; peanut butter pie and chocolate spaghetti and waffles big enough for trolls.  We have anything you please and everything you like, what will you be having tonight?”

The frogs looked at her expectantly.

Josh looked at her expectantly.

Even the other diners eyed her.

And when Carolina opened her mouth, the first words off her tongue surprised even her.  For she had every intention of thanking them and returning to Comfort for her chicken tenders and macaroni and cheese.

But apparently, her mouth had other ideas.

Stay tuned, Invisible Friends!  We have a week of whimsy coming up!