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12 Feb 2024

One Birthday

by Amy Chu

illustration: a young woman sits with a birthday cake topped with strawberries and lit swiggle-shaped candles. Text reads One Birthday by Amy Chu, inspired by 'one summer' by Nicholson Baker

A illustration of a woman (presumably the author) sits on a bench with a triangle of cheese and a bottle, looking at a city in the distance. Text reads: One birthday it became legal for me to drink in America. But I was studying abroad in London and I had already spent months going to bars and buying cheap Prosecco.

Illustration of two goldfish in a Kirkland labeled-jar and a folded pair of jeans. Text reads: One birthday I was gifted two goldfish and a pair of jeans.

Illustration of a stack of La Croix cans in front of a polaroid with two smiling people. Text reads: One birthday my friends snuck up to my bedroom and covered my walls in colorful printer paper. They stacked 80 cans of La Croix seltzers by my bed. We took edibles; then someone took a Polaroid of us and our high, dumb smiles. I don’t know where the photo is anymore.

Illustration of a girl and her mom standing in a dark room. Another person sticks their head through an open door and sings Happy Bir-Never Gonna Give you Up! Never... The text reads: One birthday my mom stuck a candle in a cupcake and played the Happy Birthday Song on YouTube. She must have felt strange about singing in English. Then, I got Rickrolled.

Illustration of a woman sitting at a busy bar with two others. A tangle of colors congregate at her stomach. Text reads: One birthday I wanted to be alone, and I got my period. I bundled up and walked to an authentic Irish pub. I wasn’t hungry and I couldn’t drink because I’d eaten a huge breakfast to take painkillers. I ordered fish and chips to get a seat at the bar and drew in my sketchbook, which caught the attention of two men. They shouted questions at me above the live fiddle music. I pushed down the feelings twisting inside me.

Illustration of a pine tree covered in snow with a woman walking by in the dark. Text reads: One birthday it snowed. Actually, it has snowed on all my birthdays that I can remember.

Illustration of the author lying face down on a bed, with a phone in her hand. On the phone, there is a social media post of her grimacing holding up a middle finger, a bagel in her other hand. The caption on the post reads: Happy Birthday! I love you sooo much. #bagels #baegoals. The text on the comic reads: One birthday it was the trend to post unflattering photos of people on their birthdays. My friends left embarrassing stories, egregious photos, and heartfelt birthday wishes on my Facebook timeline. I spent the afternoon drafting witty responses, to show I was cool about it, in case my crush saw them.

Illustration of the author with a swollen face and poking her cheek with a finger. Text reads: One birthday I still had bruises on my cheeks from a botched wisdom teeth surgery.

Illustration of a person standing contemplatively in front of a canvas with simple paint strokes. Text reads: One birthday I took the train to New York City with my family friends. (Family friends are like relatives you enjoy spending time with.) We went to the Whitney Museum and Isaac pretended to appreciate the canvases painted in different shades of white.

Illustration of a pair of baby hands moving towards a pencil, an hundred dollar bill, and a scribble of colors. The text reads: One birthday I was placed before a pencil, a one hundred dollar bill, and a third thing I have since forgotten. I crawled toward them and chose the pencil, or so my father tells me.

Illustration of the author sitting in the dark with a hand under her chin, looking at a cake topped with strawberries. Text reads: One birthday I was so scared of turning 25 that I made a comic about it.

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