In “The Stolen Party,” protagonist Rosaura is invited to the birthday party of Luciana, the daughter in a family that employs Rosaura’s mother as their maid. Rosaura excitedly accepts the party invitation and wishes to attend because she believes that Luciana is a friend.

Every afternoon she used to go to Luciana's house and they would both finish their homework while Rosaura's mother did the cleaning. They had their tea in the kitchen and they told each other secrets.

Rosaura feels that she and Luciana are close, given that they study together, snack together, and confide in each other. To Rosaura, their relationship is one of mutual respect and affection, not business. She does not view their socioeconomic and power inequities as anything significant.

Rosaura's mother, on the other hand, warns her that indeed there is a gap between the girls:

That one’s not your friend. You know what you are to them? The maid’s daughter, that’s what.

As a result of spending much time with Luciana and being treated as an equal (not an employee or underling), Rosaura

loved everything in the big house, and she also loved the people who lived there.

Furthermore, Luciana’s birthday party promises to be elaborate. Rosaura looks forward to it because

it will be the most lovely party in the whole world, Luciana told me it would. There will be a magician and he will bring a monkey and everything.

Lucia’s relatively wealthier family can afford to throw such a fancy celebration and hire a magician—and not just an ordinary or amateur one. A magician with a live monkey is likely pretty expensive.

Rosaura “wanted to go to that party more than anything else in the world” because she thought she was truly friends with Luciana and not merely hired help. Luciana may have felt and behaved that way, but Luciana’s mother certainly did not.