The night shift at M.'s cafe is cooking party food tonight for tomorrow's birthday celebration of Princess, the cafe baby, who turns one.

Princess is a very precocious baby and is spoiled by everyone on the compound. She loves the cats and the dogs, the birds in the dragon tree, and the the neighbor's roosters. She is fond of wearing head-to-toe ensembles that her parents buy online, and seems especially fond of shoes. Her crib is always filled with soft toys such as balls and, last week, plastic Easter eggs. She sleeps to Baby Channel.

She loves playing with the keys to the small loggia and pretends to open the padlock. She is thrilled by the sounds of the different wind chimes hanging there. Whenever she is near me she fondles my moustache and beard. Maybe she thinks I am a big cat or dog with long fur.