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Gasping, Carolina whirled around, her hand flying to her collarbone.  Once she recognized the stately figure in front of her, she sighed with relief.  “Grandmother, you scared me.  Oh, Grandmother!”  She flung her arms around her grandmother’s neck.  “You’re here!  You’re really here!”   She beamed.  “My birthday wish came true after all!”  Glancing around the cafe, she gave a silent thanks to the powers of Whimsy.

Standing stiffly in the circle of her granddaughter’s arms, her grandmother plucked at Carolina’s sleeve, as if to lift the offending hug away.  “Yes, dear, I am.  You, however, are not where you should be.  However did you wind up in Whimsy?” Her nose wrinkled and her voice grew nasal, as if the very word was so vile one could barely speak it without the pungent repulsiveness overcoming them.

Carolina laughed, impervious to her Grandmother’s disapproving expression.  “Well, I was sitting in the front lobby waiting for you with Evelyn and Josh, and I just got curious…”  She cocked her head.  “Where were you, anyway?  You’ve never been late to lunch.”

Her grandmother’s lips pressed into a thin line.  “I had an urgent business matter that could not be delayed.”

“Oh.”  Carolina lowered her eyes, her voice flat.  Disappointment lay heavy in her belly, like a cheap ice cream on a hot day.

“Ah, I see.”  Her grandmother shook her head.  “You thought I was off planning a surprise party or buying you a car or something for your birthday.”

Carolina flushed.  “Oh no!  Nothing that big or extravagant.  I just thought…”  She trailed off, embarrassed.  “I thought maybe, in some tiny way, you might be thinking about me,” she finished in a small voice.

Her grandmother’s eyes softened, but her voice remained stern.  “Carolina, you know my motto.  Work first, discipline second, play later.”  She patted Carolina’s cheek.  “Now, let’s get you out of this horrid place.”

“Horrid?”  Carolina glanced around, eying the crystal chandeliers, the jaunty pink wallpaper, the clear fountain where the frog band continued to play on, the unoccupied lilly pads bouncing in rhythm to the beat.    “But there’s nothing horrid about Whimsy.  Besides, we can’t leave.  We’re in the middle of my birthday party.”

“A birthday party?”  Carolina’s grandmother raised her eyebrows.  “But dear, your parents are throwing you a perfectly lovely party tonight.”

“A dinner party,” Carolina spat, her wrinkled nose looking very much like her grandmother’s had a few moments ago.  “A dinner party with people I don’t know and their stuck up kids and food I don’t like.  Do you want to know the real reason I came to Whimsy, Grandmother?”

She paused, her cheeks growing red and her eyes glittering.  “Because I realized for nearly 12 years, since I was six, I’ve been eating the same lunch every day.  I’ve been dressing in the same private school uniform and wearing my hair the way everyone says I should.  Everything has been safe and comfortable and well, dull.  And I wanted to do something grand, something special for my 18th birthday.”

She raised her chin definitely.   “And even though I’ll probably go back to my chicken tenders and macaroni and cheese and peanut butter cookies in Comfort tomorrow, at least for one day, one day I was brave enough to come to Whimsy.”  She crossed her arms and stared at her grandmother.

Carolina’s grandmother stood very still, as if she was afraid any sudden movement would send Carolina running.  Slowly she reached out and took her arm.  “It’s worse than I thought,” she whispered, her eyes wide as she glanced around.  “We must get you away from here, dear.  We must hurry, before it’s too late.”

“Leave Whimsy?”  Carolina’s voice rose.  “In the middle of my birthday party?”

“Please don’t argue with me, Carolina!” her grandmother snapped, her fingers closing around Carolina’s thin wrist like a vice. “We must hurry!  We must get you out of here before this dreadful Whimsy steals you forever!”

Carolina ripped her wrist away, rubbing the long red streaks where her grandmother’s fingers had been with her hand.  “What are you talking about?  Grandmother, you’re scaring me!”

“There you are!”  Bounding over like a half-crazed rabbit, Hibiscus Honeycutt beamed and flung her arm around Carolina’s shoulder.  “I’m amazed Josh couldn’t find you dear!  What a great spot for hide and seek!”  She looked up and her grin grew wider.  “Well, well, well.  You came back.  After you swore you never would.”

“It seems I had to,” Carolina’s grandmother snapped, her elegant face growing ugly with anger.  “You and this dreadful place lured Carolina inside, like a butterfly into a Venus flytrap!”

“Oh, please.”  Hibiscus Honeycutt snorted, her arm tightening around Carolina’s shoulders.  “She wanted to come. Unlike you, she has a sense of whimsy.”

“Don’t say that.”  Her grandmother’s gaze tightened.  “Carolina, we’re leaving.  Now.”

“But it’s her birthday party,” Hibiscus protested.  “Surely you wouldn’t make her leave her own party?  After her only birthday wish came true?”

Ignoring her, Carolina’s grandmother turned to her confused granddaughter.  “Carolina, did you eat anything here?”

“A bite of tuna salad,” Carolina replied.  “I forgot to eat the rest of my lunch…And we haven’t even tried the cake yet.  Oh the cake!  Hibiscus, we must cut the cake!”

“It’s delicious,” Hibiscus Honeycutt mumbled, brushing a crumb from the corner of her mouth.  “So I hear,” she amended, glancing around guiltily.

“Then it’s not too late.”  Carolina’s grandmother’s shoulders fell, as though the relief at the news poured out through her fingertips.  “We must hurry.  Come on, Carolina!  We must leave now!”

“Grandmother, I don’t understand,” Carolina protested, twisting out of her Grandmother’s grasping fingertips.  “What scares you so much about Whimsy?  It’s the most wonderful place in the world.”

“You mean you didn’t tell her?”  Hibiscus whirled around, chortling.  “Oh that’s rich.  That’s too rich.”

“Tell me what?” Carolina demanded, as her grandmother hid her gaze.  “Grandmother, what? What’s going on?”

Carolina’s grandmother pressed her lips together, refusing to answer.  After a moment of tense silence, Hibiscus sighed.  “You see Carolina, your grandmother and I aren’t just friends.  Well, you could say we’re two halves of a whole.  Yin and yang.  Black and white.”

“I don’t understand.”  Carolina shook her head.

“I am she and she is me,” Hibiscus replied.  “In other words, we’re the same person.  Well, we were.  Once upon a time.”

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

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