“I don’t understand why I can’t invite them”, I yelled at my father.  “They’re my grandparents!  You could at least let them see me turn eighteen!  I’m the only grandchild they’ll ever have!” 
    “It's just that they’re just not like us, Phoenix.  They have different beliefs and, well, they’re just weird.  I don’t want to call attention from the neighbors.  I know how badly you want to see them, it‘s just not possible this time.”
    “You say that every time.  I’m so tired of being treated like a kid.  I don’t care what you say, they’re my family too, and I’m going to know them whether you say it’s ok or not!!!”  I turned around and ran up the stairs to my room.  He wouldn’t see me cry over this again.
    The problem with my dad was that he didn’t think my mom’s family was a good influence on me.  My mom passed away when I was still very young and as a result, I haven’t seen any one from her side of them family since my second birthday.  They still send me birthday and holiday cards every year, but never with a return address, at my father’s request, of course. 
    But this time, it should be my choice.  I’ll be 18.  An adult.  He simply can’t tell me who I can and can not spend time with any more.  I wish I knew what the big deal was.  I mean, it’s one thing if they were a group of psycho murderous rapist or something, but if they’re just a few weirdoes?  And they’re not even really all that weird from what I understand, just pagan.  They celebrate different holidays, big fucking deal.  They prefer to see the Earth as sacred instead of some guy in the sky that no one can see.  What’s wrong with that? I just don’t get it, you know?
    And that neighbor thing made me crazy.  The nearest neighbors are at the end of the block and I was pretty sure one of them was a prostitute.  Well, ok, maybe not an actual prostitute, maybe just a stripper.  I think that’s enough to keep the “attention” off of us, right?
    I’ll bet my dad has their address somewhere in his files. I mean, he has to, otherwise, how would they know when we move if he doesn’t tell them?  He wouldn’t keep in at the house though, but I’m sure it’s at his office, probably on his computer.  I began thinking to myself.   If he won’t invite them for me, then I’ll just have to invite them for myself! 
    I quit sulking and jumped off my bed, excited about my new plan. I opened up my cherry wood dresser and pulled out my black yoga pants and a black tank top. If I’m going to break into his office, I would do it right. I thought to myself.  I slipped out of my jeans and sweatshirt and into my stealthy, and very chic (if I do say so myself) outfit and put on my lucky tennis shoes. I examined myself in the mirror. Well, if nothing else, I look way hot.  Pleased with my appearance, I decided to get going.
    “Where are you planning on going at eleven o’clock at night?” Dad called from the couch.  He couldn’t see me, luckily, but the man had ears like a hawk.
    “A walk. I need to chill and I can’t do it in my room. I’m sick of the house.” I wondered to myself why I didn’t just decide to sneak out.  I was mad, but I didn’t want to scare him or have him worry about me or anything, I guess.
    “Do you have your cell phone?” He asked.
    “Yes, I’ll check at midnight if I’m not back.” Sometimes I hated how he made me check in, but my decision tonight made me decide not to fuss about it.
    Luckily dad’s office was just a few blocks away.  The night air was dark and damp, almost misty.  The sweet scent of night blooming Jasmine on the fence was amazing for my mood.  This walk was new to me.  The same walk I had made every day all four years of high school was completely transformed in the dark. The street lights are few and far between in this town and there are trees between the sidewalk and the street.  The walls and fences to the right are often covered in vines. Ivy, night blooming Jasmine, Honeysuckle, you almost always found one of the three to your right.  During the way it was an utterly mundane walk, but at night, the chain link fences, the cars, even the concrete seem to all but disappear. The stars and moon combined with the vines and trees turn the mundane into magic, bringing a warm sweet tunnel of trees into the city.
    I turned the corner and there it was. I dug through my seventeen keys (Dad has a bad habit of losing keys and locking them inside of cars and buildings, so I had copies of every one of his keys, for the house, office and car) and found my dad’s emergency office key and let myself in.  The motion sensors on the lights turned the bright fluorescents on, temporarily blinding me.  I forced myself to keep my eyes wide open knowing it would only be a few moments before they adjusted.
    I wandered slowly into my dad’s office and sat down at his computer desk. For a few minutes I just sat there, breathing, preparing myself for what I was going to do, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the deep green picture frame with the word Firebird (Firebird has been his nickname for me for as far back as I could remember) on the top, that I had given him in third grade for Christmas.  It had a picture of me at my second birthday, sitting in my mom’s lap as I opened the present my parents had gotten me.  I shook my head knowing my father’s password and thinking that maybe I should mention it in passing sometime.  It would have been fairly obvious to anyone that broke into the office for computer files that Firebird should be the first guess.
    F-I-R-E-B-I-R-D. Enter.  Now or never, girly. I started browsing files and found what I was looking for. ‘Personal Records and Contact Info’, it read.  I opened it up and right there, virtually yelling at me from the screen, there it was. Just want I needed, ‘Pheo’s Grandparents’.  Quickly I copied down all the info I needed, logged out and left.  I walked out and began humming and then singing to myself. I was going to see my grandparents for the first time in 16 years soon, and I couldn’t be happier.