The Mystery of the Birthday Basher

her hand and popped them into her mouth. The familiar sweetness swirled through her mouth as suddenly—
“Birthday cake!” she exclaimed, making all the other B-Buds jump.
“Huh?” Mei said, scrunching up her face in confusion.
Amirah leaped to her feet. “The Birthday Basher’s birthday cake,” she continued in a rush. “If we can find it, I think it will tell us everything we need to know. Birthday cakes are so special. So personal. They’re more than just a cake. They’re filled with—”
“Birthday magic,” Elvis finished for her.
“Yes,” Amirah said. “Exactly!”
“You don’t think his cake could be in here, do you?” Olivia asked, glancing around at the towers of presents that surrounded them.
“I don’t think so,” Amirah said. “A birthday present isn’t quite the same thing as a birthday cake.”
Then she had another idea.
“Cara!” Amirah said, turning to the unicorn. “Are we on the right track? Do you know where we can find out about the Basher’s favorite birthday cake?”
With a swish and swirl of her colorful mane, Cara nodded and pawed at the ground. All the B-Buds could tell she was saying yes.
Amirah placed her hand on Cara’s back. “Show us the way!” she said.

The B-Buds hurried after Cara as she galloped through the streets of Sparkle City. Left, right, straight, right, straight, left—soon they felt so twisted and turned around that Amirah didn’t know if they’d be able to find the present tent again if they tried.
But it was clear that Cara knew exactly where she was going, and Amirah trusted her special friend completely.
The sun had started to set, making the streets of Sparkle City glitter with golden light. It was getting late, Amirah knew. They wouldn’t have much more time before nightfall.
At last, Cara came to a halt before a cavernous building. It had dozens of turrets, each one topped with a decoration that looked like a dollop of frosting. The towers at each corner resembled swirly-striped birthday cake candles, and at the very top of each one flickered a real flame.
“What is this place?” Mei asked in astonishment.
“Look,” Amirah said, pointing at a sign that hung above the jeweled double doors. “It’s the Hall of Birthday Cakes! Come on—let’s see what’s inside!”
The moment the B-Buds stepped into the Hall of Birthday Cakes, they were overcome by the most delicious scents. Chocolate, vanilla, caramel, strawberry, lemon, and sugar all combined to create a heavenly aroma.
The smell couldn’t compete with the sights, though. The long corridor was lined with delicately lit glass-and-crystal cases. And inside each case was a different birthday cake!
“Look!” Olivia called. “There’s a card too. It has a name and a birthday and a favorite color.”
“You know what this means?” Lacey exclaimed. “Our birthday cakes must be in here too!”
“Do you think we can find them?” Mei asked.
“I think we should try!” Amirah replied. “There’s just one question—where to begin?”
“This place is huge.” Elvis spoke up. “Should we start at one end and make our way to the other?”
“That makes sense,” Amirah said, nodding.
“It’s gonna take us hours to get all the way through the entire building,” Olivia said. “Maybe even days!”
“Then we don’t have any time to lose,” Amirah said.
The B-Buds walked over to the far side of the building, where Amirah spotted a small sign with ice-blue letters on it. “Look!” she cried. “January! The cakes must be arranged by month! No—by date!”
“That means our birthday will be easy to find!” Ziggy exclaimed. “Follow me!”
The B-Buds raced after Ziggy until they arrived at the section marked January 8. Even then, it wasn’t as easy to find their cakes as they expected. After all, there were millions of other people who shared their special birthday around the world.
With some careful searching, though, each cake was eventually revealed. Amirah’s sprinkle-filled unicorn cake, Mei’s strawberry cake, Olivia’s fairy bread. Then Elvis’s peanut-butter-and-banana cake and Lacey’s coconut cake and Ziggy’s caterpillar cake!
“B-Buds, check out this cool popcorn cake,” Amirah cried, pointing to a cake for someone named Nancy Gates.
“I guess that’s a long-lost B-Bud of ours who really loves popcorn,” Elvis commented.
“Or maybe she loves eating popcorn when she’s watching TV like I do,” Amirah giggled.
Birthday cakes for B-Buds born on January 8 stretched as far as the eye could see. There were even birthday cakes for famous people who shared their birthday, like David Bowie, Elvis Presley, and Stephen Hawking.
Amirah stared at her own special birthday cake. She could see her reflection smiling in the glass case that surrounded it. Just seeing the cake made her feel excited about her birthday, even though it was still six months away!
Amirah knew, though, that they didn’t have time to linger. There were many more aisles left for January, followed by February and all the other months of the year.
“Should we split up?” Lacey suggested. “One B-Bud per aisle?”
Amirah nodded. “I think that’s a good idea,” she said. “If you find a cake that might belong to the Birthday Basher, yell and we’ll all come running.”
“What if we see a cake that’s just really cool?” Elvis called a few minutes later. “I’m in March, and the cake for a guy named Jeffrey Harrow, born March 29, looks just like a golf course!”
Amirah giggled but resisted the urge to go see the golf course cake. She had to focus! She raced down aisles in February and March, then April and May. Along the way, she noticed that not every glass case was filled with a beautiful birthday cake that looked too good to eat. Some of the cakes were small and slumped. Some had runny frosting that had dripped off the cakes, pooling at the bases of the pedestals. And some of them had no frosting or decoration at all. They sat there, bare and plain, looking stale and almost inedible.
Why? wondered Amirah. It didn’t make sense to her why some of the birthday cakes were so grand and glorious, while others were downright disgusting. I wonder if the way someone feels about their birthday can affect their