Char's Best Birthday Party Ever!

I don’t think it will matter much today. Alex paused to reconsider if this was true. He could just scratch it out�"no it was probably true. But it always feels good to see her. He didn’t like how that sounded. Oh, well. He shut his journal and threw it up onto the shelf above him. Doing it so many times, he didn’t need to aim. “Freddy, thank God I’m not you.” Alex tapped the fish tank on this dresser. He inhaled slowly, exhaled, then laughed. “I’d be bored as heck in there. You may get a roommate today. Maybe a castle. Yeah, I’m thinking mom bought her that castle at the pet shop.”

“Alex! Preparations!”

That was his mom. The cheery type. She always kept a positive outlook on life and drew back the curtains first thing in the morning. Alex was a morning person, too.

“Um�"“ Alex hopped over to look over the stairwell, “I know mom�"I’m almost ready.”

“Guests will be on there way any time.”

“Yes, I forgot. Just have to clean up really quick.”

It was then that he remembered�"he hadn’t even wrapped Char’s gift. Oh wait, no, he forgot to buy a gift. Brilliant. At this point he didn’t really care, though, in the spur of the moment two weeks ago, he had it on his heart to get something for her. Alex paused, glancing up at his book shelf. She is always wanting to play with that stuffed kitten. I can give her that. So he grabbed it and took care to place it in a giftbag.

After he put his papers away and weaved a comb through his auburn hair and donned a new pair of socks and picked at his teeth and changed his shirt and then changed his shirt again, he bounced down the stairs. He was mildly excited and he didn’ t know why. Parties seem to have that effect. Just then, Char dashed by and her two braids whipped Alex across the face. She didn’t even notice.

“Nope, still not here!” she shouted, and ran back across the living room, swerved around the wall separating the dining room from the kitchen, and plopped her arms and head on the island.

“Who’s all coming mom?” asked Alex.

“Let’s see, Aunt Carla, Aunt Jill, Uncle Mike, your grandparents…Sandy and Carrey should be coming. And then of course your friends.” She eyed Char as she went back to chopping celery sticks. As Alex expected, Char started naming off everyone, “Amy, Samantha, Elise, Arianna, Judy, Cole, Jade, and Alexis.”

He let her finish first: “You like Cole, don’t you.”

“No I don’t!” Her eyes got real big and she jumped up as she said it.

Alex leaned his elbow on this island. “Then why is he the only boy you invited?”

“He’s just my friend, he’s the only boy friend I have.”

Alex ginned and bit his tongue to hold a laugh. “No, I don’t mean that!” She spat out. “He’s a boy friend. A friend that’s a boy.”

“I’m just joking, sheesh.”

Mom was smiling all the while, slicing veggies as she did. “Here, Alex, can you finish the cake. It just needs two eggs, or maybe three? I don’t remember. Mix it all up and throw it in a pan, the oven’s all ready set.”

“I DON’T!” Char finished with a head jerk and off she went again. To the window. And then off to who knows where.

“That sister of yours…” Alex’ mom tore open a bag of potato chips.

“I think you dropped her mom.”

“She’s a special one,” she laughed and smiled. It was a gentle smile�"oh how she loved that girl.

“No, but really I know what it is,” and Alex was all but joking now, “I read about it in a book.”

“That psychology textbook you borrowed from Archie?”

“No, the one about birth order. You know, it actually matters what number child you are. Technically, Char would be a baby, which means …” he paused wanting to accurately recall his discovery, “…basically she’s funny, a jokester, absentminded sometimes, and then she’ll have a tendency to be ‘the life of the party.’ “

“Sounds like you nailed it right on the head!”

“Yeah, and you’re a baby, too” he added quickly, “so�"“

“But, no, I have three younger brothers.”

“Well, but you’re separated by over four years�"according to the book if there’s more than four years between siblings a new ‘family’ begins.”

“interesting.”

Soon a most glorious smell wafted through the warm air: strawberry shortcake. If nothing else, this made Alex’s whole night worthwhile.

“Dad should be here in a minute.”

“They’re here!” It was Char’s shout from the second floor. Just then the front door cracked open and one could just feel the icy cold that had almost froze the lock over. “Oh, nevermind, it’s dad.” Char slipped around a corner, then popped her head back out. “Hi dad!”

“Hey�"what are you doing?”

“Getting my shoes on just in case people need help bringing in gifts!”

“Hey, I bet you’re excited, aren’t you.” He didn’t stop to hear the answer but went straight to his wife and hugged her. “How are you, schweets.”

Alex hated that word.

“Good. You?”

“Great.”

She was anxious to ask, “You have it, right?”

He was dumbfounded, which clearly on his face, but a second later his countenance returned. “Oh, um, yes I did. Yes.”

“Parents are amazing at being secretive.” Alex said it too low to hear. He looked up and saw Char smiling at him and he smirked back. Someone did hear.

You know how parties go. Preparations are just meeting an end once the first guest comes and emotions rise. And as you’re just finishing up the last bit, another guest comes, and another, until those “finishing touches” take half-an-hour to complete and sometimes never get done. Then, depending on the nature of the visitors (and the event), either everyone calmly enjoys themselves or loudly enjoys themselves. Everything is noisy and there’s about zero order. Here the latter was true.

The house was unjustifiably small for all the people invited, and some guests took up more space than others. But everyone was relishing it in their own special way. Alex noticed that people tend to talk to a few guests before humbly inching toward the snacks as if that was their ultimate goal. And once the food starts going, it goes fast! Aunt Jill’s brownies were the first to go.

Alex licked his fingers ‘till all the salt was gone. Man was that some delicious chip dip. “Hey cousin.” Alex jumped and blinked, looking upward. “Oh, sorry, didn’t mean to give you a start.”

“Oh, no it’s fine.” He swiped his finger across the plate and licked it.

“It is like frozen death out there.” He said “frozen death” every so slowly and dramatically. “So, how’s that project going?”

“The…”

“The auctions, man, how are the auctions doing?” said the guest, whose name is Andrew.

Alex glared at his coat�"the same black leather biker coat he wore for as long as Alex could remember�"as he tried to remember…

“One of them is higher than I expected�"the chair. The rest are okay. It’ll turn out good, I’m sure.” He hoped.

Andrew was Alex’s favorite cousin by far, and I won’t get into why it’s by far, but suffice it to say he wouldn’t mind talking to him for a long while; except he had to leave for a moment before the chip dip disappeared. “I knew that piece was high end,” he followed Alex to the island spread, “and I was serious when I said I’d buy it from you.”

“It’s at two-eighty.”

Andrew gave an admiring whistle. “Not anymore I won’t,” and he gave a cheesy smile. “You know, “ he began again slowly, “my coworker may be interested in that fancy footstool you put up on there. He’s one to collect antiques. I’ll try to remember to tell him about it when I see him again.”

“Thank you. That means a lot.”

“No problem. No…” he trailed off, because as he delicately lifted a butter roll from its tray, a long whispy hair appeared�"coming out from the bun.

“Oh, that’s Skitter’s hair. Oh, gosh he probably got into the food,” Alex glanced over at his mom after he said it; she paused for a moment, then went back to her deep conversation. Then she came to inspect it.

“Eww man! I knew it, I knew it. We’ve got to keep a better watch on that dog when your friend comes over.”

“By the way, Anne, this food is great. It’s like a buffet,” and Andrew added one of his trademark chuckles. “Better his hair than mine in there! Mistake it for…”

“Cheddar cheese, I guess.” Alex added timidly after a slience.

“Eh, sure.”

Alex took a few more bites, sitting in a corner of the house. He actually sat on the little tree-stump checkers table that had become synonymous with the word “livingroom” in his mind. For now there’d be plenty of talking amongst relatives. So against his first urge, he decided to spy on his sister and her friends. He casually strode up two flights of stairs to the loft; he could hear mummers and giggles as he ascended. They were coming from above. Of course. In the attic.

Straight ahead from the stairs stood an old, chipped wooden door, and inside this closet a ladder stood under a trapdoor in the ceiling. Alex entered the attic secretly, to no avail. It was too dark inside and too bright out there for anyone not to notice the change in lighting. A few staring bug-eyes all to turn away as soon as they met his�"nothing that hadn’t happened before. For when your friend has an older brother, it seems possible that you may get a chance to know him; that, and the fact that you think about this brother as much as you think about your friend creates a very fertile environment for “crushes.” Or at least curiosity.

“Okay, you spin the spinner, and then whatever number you get…”

“We know you said that three times already.”

One of the girls added out of the blue as if she was completely oblivious to her surroundings, “What if like, you got three fives in a row, and you knocked out all the pawns!”

“Oh, my gosh, that would be so funny…” then the group began rambling about every possible thing that could come out of that scenario.

“Really, really,” Char said every so dramatically, “let’s get back to this! Please! I want to start. Now.” As she started explaining the game, Alex crept a little closer to follow what she was saying. Youngest goes first, right. Pass the deck clockwise and the player deals, right. Put cards facedown, right. Don’t follow the�"

“That’s not right. Skip a turn when the other player rolls a six. Not a five.” Alex didn’t know why he said that.

“Oh, I thought it was a six. Oh well.” Silence struck like lightning once Alex spoke, as if he was a respected Sage who almost never said a word. Half eyes looked towards, half away. The few spunky ones didn’t pay any attention whatsoever. “WAIT!” Char spat it out so loud and suddenly that one of the girls almost stood up straight. “Let’s see about that. Amy, instructions.” A paper was passed to her.

“It’s in there, I remember…I don’t forget this stuff, Char.”

“Right here, I found it!” She exulted. “If after rolling a player lands on the same space as another, follow this pattern: if a one is rolled, go ahead two spaces. If a two is rolled go ahead three spaces. If a three is rolled, go back the number of spaces between your space and the nearest ‘Expense’ square…uh…if you roll a FIVE!”

She paused to look up and around. “If you roll a five…” Her grin relaxed into a gape as her tongue drooped out of her mouth very slowly. Didn’t I tell you, is what Alex was thinking.

But all in an eight of a second, she gripped the pillow she was sitting on like lightning and shouted “Pillow Fight!” Out slipped the cushion from under her bum and in flew it flew through the air�"WHACK�"into the face of some unfortunate victim. Soon everyone was up and swinging pillows with all their might.

“Agh,” Alex just groaned and waved his hand. Then he sat down crosslegged and settled to watching them. Indeed, this was a good time to watch when they weren’t paying attention. Only one was really worth watching, in his eyes, and that was Jade. Yeah, they were all cute…hm, cuteness (is that a word?) is as common as dandelions. Then he eyed Cole. He must be a bored. Unless he’s doing the same thing I’m doing. His thoughts trailed off to his grandpa, whose name was also Cole, and then to the time he and dad went skiing on that mountain in Colorado…until the original thought wasn’t anywhere to be found.

But a voice behind him calling, “Time to open gifts!” woke him up. It was his dad, who had half his body through the trap door and sounded as if he were doing a bench press as he said it.

“Gifts, come on!” someone cheered. Cole crept past Alex right after Char.

“Are you having fun? I know you’re the only boy…” Alex kind of regretted saying it.

“Yeah. You have an Xbox 360 right?”

“Um. A Playstation 3. It’s the superior system in my opinion. I could hook it up for you if you want.”

“Okay, cool.”

“Cole! Come on.” Char scooted back over to where they were and grasped his hand. Off he went. Alex felt a twinge of…something…seeing how Char liked that blonde haired boy so. I’m not jealous of him. That’s crap. And then worse, he felt a rising passion, thinking, oh wishing, that such a thing would happen to him. So stupid…he’s young. You’re not jealous of him. Cole was actually a lot like himself. Quiet. Reserved (at times). “Oh, wow son, I didn’t even see you up here. You all right? Look kind of dazed.”

“Yeah.” And since that was the last well Alex wanted to draw from, he didn’t say anything else.

Gift opening is actually pretty decent in the Bolding house. None of that million-thankyous-and-show-the-gift-to-everyone-as-they-ooh-and-ahh stuff here. That’s how they did it in Alex’s dad’s family. Mrs. Bolding grew up with a different experience: tear it open fast as you can! So at Bolding celebrations, what happened is you opened your gift, looked the giver in the eye and gave an authentic “Thank you,” and moved on to the next box. That’s the way to do it.

It was really odd to have this many people over, but this party was planned a month in advance. And there were as many presents as people, so Char was totally convinced this was her best birthday ever. Everyone gathered around the sofa with a few stray guests here and there. “Cole, come sit next to me.”

“Hey I wanted to sit there…”

“You can sit on this side, Elise.”

All the friends crowded around Char with happy expectation. “Oh, I want to do this one first!” she heaved an enormous box over to her. “This is heavy.”

“Let’s do cards, first,” Dad suggested (like it was really a suggestion).

“Honey, it’s okay, it doesn’t really matter,” added Mrs. Bolding.

“It only makes sense to go from smallest to largest. I mean that’s how I always did it.”

“Just let the kid go, I’m fine if she opens my gift first.” That was one of the uncles.

“Did ya put life insurance in there like you did last time,” chuckled Tommy, one of Mr. Bolding’s brothers.

“Life insurance!” he scoffed and yet laughed at the same time. “It was a college investment.” The wrapper was already half way off, and once she opened the box, a real life sized person jumped out onto the floor. Everyone one was utterly speechless, except Uncle Mike, who was laughing so hard that a few others couldn’t help but laugh at him laughing.

“Sarah!” shouted one of the aunts to break the silence. People started talking almost all at once. What the heck. Just what the heck. Alex didn’t particularly like meeting people unexpectedly. Finally Char got what was happening.

“Oh wow. Oh wow!” She kept repeating it and giggling. Meanwhile as the talking riled up, Mrs. Bolding’s mom was exclaiming, “Oh my god, did you ship her like that!” with her eyes so wide and her face so distraught you thought she’d have a heart attack right there. She was starting to stand up.

“No, sweetie, we just put her in there 30 minutes ago.” Said Uncle Mike.

“You are kidding me!” grinned Andrew pointing at Uncle Mike and his wife.

“It was my husband’s idea!” All the girls surrounding Char�"well most of them�"were smirking or otherwise responding to the high-energy environment, though no one knew what in the world just happened.

Eventually it calmed down. The rest of the gifts were common things for a twelve year old girl. Lip gloss, stuffed animals, a movie, socks, as well as a few not-co-common items because, well, Char wasn’t a completely common girl. What she loved best of all was the fish tank castle that her parents bought her; she knew it was coming.

She held Alex’s stuffed cat close as she unwrapped the rest. That made him feel good inside and he was glad his spontaneous gift redeemed him. Alex was eager to install Freddy’s new castle and did so as soon as he got his sister’s permission. Char tagged along as did a few of her friends. It was very simple; you only had to lower the decoration into the tank, that was all. Sarah entered Alex’ room as he was carefully placing the castle. “Hey Alex.”

“Hey.”

Noone spoke another word until he was finished. “Is that a butterfly fish?” Sarah knew a thing or two about many topics. That’s a college student for you.

“Actually it’s an angel fish. You can tell by the gill covers. A butterfly fish doesn’t have that spine right there next to the gill cover, but both fishes look similar.” Cole was pointing to Freddy.

“You’re right.” Alex looked at Cole. “So how was that your trip from Wisconson? Like being in a box?”

“I know, Grandma was freaking out down there! But seriously, it’s going good. It’s a little different being with all those other students. I do like my roommate, though. They’re cool. The hardest part isn’t studying, it’s staying focused. Really, I’m just so thankful that I’m half way done already with my degree! I’ll be so glad when I get it.”

“Are you his sister?” one of the Char’s little friends perked up.

“She’s our cousin. Cousin Sarah.” Char answered. Silence set in until it became awkward. It was then that one of the girl’s asked to play out in the snow even though the sun had almost set. The adults allowed it as long as, Grandma said, the back light was on or they took a lantern with them. Sarah stayed in Alex’ room once they left.

“I didn’t want to mention this with them in the room…” Alex jolted his head to look at her. She sat on the his bed and it creaked; Alex turned to face her. “It’s really hard, you know, staying by your convictions when you’re at a university.”

Alex paused for only a second to make sure it was safe to say it: “Temptation?”

“Uuh,” she looked up. “That’s what it comes down to. It’s not that I don’t believe in God and the Bible, it’s just hard to be a Christian there. Some things aren’t clear either, so that makes it harder.”

“You mean like parties…”

“Not just that, but yes that too. People ridiculing you. Some people are just so mean…” She seemed to be thinking of something. “It’s just ridiculous. It’s like you know you’re right. But for some reason you doubt. Maybe it’s all false.” Alex could see the sun was very near set by looking out his window. The lake behind his house was frozen over and reflected the glorious azure hue of night. He finally had a reply, but Sarah started again. “Any special ladies in your life?”

Alex struggled to conceal a smirk. Maybe he would be open. As if. He’d at least be honest.

“Nope.”

“Maybe you’ll meet someone in college. Are you going to college?”

“I honestly don’t know. It’s overrated. I don’t see a need too, because I can just learn so much on my own, you know.”

“I think it’s at least important for your résumé. Do you think?” He wasn’t sure what to think, that was just it. Alex was different than no other young man at his age. The world was before you, but how did you know which path to take?

They talked a little more and Sarah flipped out her phone to show him some pictures from her campus. She was just saying, “oh this one is funny, here’s where…” and she didn’t finish. For at the time a ice-chunk shattered the only window in the room to bits in the loud noise that only shattering glass can make.

Then in a small voice muffled by the wind, they heard Char’s voice, “Amy did it!”