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I searched and searched and could not find any. It was seldom I needed birthday candles. Truth be told, it had probably been a decade since I last used them.

I scavenged in a drawer-the one containing bread ties and postage stamps-for used candles. Stubs would do for the purpose of lighting and then extinguishing. But, in a fit of "organizing," I must have cleaned them out. I had no idea they would become hard to replace.

In the car, I cruised the frontage road-the one out by the now abandoned mall. I might have picked up my last pack at the Hallmark store, also no longer there. There used to be a party store by the old high school, but that has closed too. Its business had moved online.

I did a Google search and found birthday candles on Amazon, where I could order some in bundles of 100. The best price was for a case lot. It's one cake, not a bakery of cakes or a cake warehouse. And, it's not such a big birthday, but a moderate one. So not a lot of candles.

Listen, I get how capitalism works--supply and demand. Lately, there has been a diminished demand for birthday candles as the birth rate is dropping. That's one reason the high school is now a senior center. Birthday candles aren't flying out the door. A small box could sit on the shelf forever, since they don't expire or have a use-by date.

I reverted to my old stand-by: eBay, for the hoarders. This is the kind of economy where these people cash-in. They actually fill a niche for hard-to-find objects. There I found "vintage" candles selling for $9.99 plus shipping. This seemed a bit steep for a dozen. Listed were personalized candles-but I didn't need ones with someone else's name on them. Animal print, beeswax or sparkle flame didn't justify the expenditure. These were for some hipster or venture capitalist.

I just needed everyday, non-vintage candles.

There must be a million in China where there are billions of people. Why couldn't I get some of those? The fact that America doesn't manufacture anymore shouldn't be a problem. But, it seemed no one was making birthday candles. Perhaps candles on cake hasn't caught on in other countries. Is it a tradition that will go the way of Arbor Day and May poles? Will it pass away when this generation dies out?

So I did what I've gotten used to doing. When I downsized houses and gave up the fireplace, when I Marie Kondo-ed my closets and had my photo albums digitalized, when my grandson comes over and ignores the TV-I turned to virtual reality. That fireplace became a roaring fire screen saver. A slide show of past vacations can play randomly on my monitor. My grandson spends his entire visit gaming, using his phone.

This year for Luke's 18th birthday, I thought, two can play this game. I planted a cellphone atop his cake with YouTube candles flickering. I felt pretty smart until he unwrapped the alarm/clock radio I'd gotten him. He looked up at me stunned.

--What?

-Jane Hertenstein

Jane Hertenstein is the author of over 80 published stories both macro and micro: fiction, creative non-fiction, and blurred genre. In addition she has published a YA novel, Beyond Paradise and a non-fiction project, Orphan Girl: The Memoir of a Chicago Bag Lady, which garnered national reviews. Jane is the recipient of a grant from the Illinois Arts Council. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in: Hunger Mountain, Rosebud, Word Riot, Flashquake, Fiction Fix, Frostwriting, and several themed anthologies. Her latest book is Cloud of Witnesses from Golden Alley Press. She teaches a workshop on Flash Memoir and can be found blogging at http://memoirouswrite.blogspot.com/

@memoirjane