There once was a girl named Sophia. Sophia was ten years old, but very different from the other girls of her age around town. For starters, Sophia cried over everything. And I do mean everything. And because Sophia cried very often, she always got a serious case of the hiccups.

So one day, Sophia’s mother decided to take a trip to the doctor’s office to figure out a cure for her very annoying hiccups.

Her mother walked Sophia into the doctor’ office and then he started on examining her. The doctor took a while on Sophia. He was giving her a lot of tests and murmuring “mmhh’s” and “ahh’s” every now and then. He spoke up a soon as Sophia was beginning to think that there was no cure for her.

“Your problem is that you cry too much,” the doctor said. “You have to stop crying as much as you do if you want to get rid of these hiccups.” Sophia knew that she cried too often, and that it would be really hard to stop. The doctor spoke up again. “The only thing that gets rid of hiccups faster is for you to be scared or shocked.”

That day after the card ride home, Sophia’s mother had an idea to get rid of her daughter’s hiccups once and for all.

On the morning of Sophia’s eleventh birthday, she got up and got ready for school. She remembered that she had not done her homework the night before and, of course, started crying. Unfortunately, that meant Sophia got the hiccups again.

The hiccups lasted through the whole day, and Sophia left school in a very bad mood. The bumpy ride home on the school bus combined with her horrible hiccups did nothing to lift Sophia’s spirits, even if it was her birthday.

The bus finally stopped at Sophia’s house and she stepped outside. She hiccupped all the way to the front porch, opened the door and…

“SURPRISE!” a chorus of people yelled at her. Sophia was so shocked, she just stood there with her mouth hanging open. When she finally came to her senses, she realized that all of her friends and family were there to celebrate her birthday!

She was halfway through her fifth piece of chocolate cake when her mom came up to her and gave her a big birthday hug. “Do you notice anything different about yourself?” she asked her daughter. Sophia thought hard for a moment and then figured out what her mom was talking about.

“My hiccups are gone!” she yelled. Sophia’s mom smiled and knew that her plan had worked. She had given her daughter the best birthday gift of the whole day. She had shocked Sophia’s hiccups right out of her.