The Tale of Zachary Willowbrook: A Leap Day Paradox

Chapter 23: Audrey turns Ten

One month later, it was once again Audrey's birthday. But this wasn't just any old birthday for Audrey. This was the year that she turned ten. Combining this with April Fool's Day, Stacy knew that this was going to be a fun birthday to plan.

By this time, Audrey was used to receiving pranks on her birthday. She has received them from her family, friends, and even a few of her teachers. To humor the occasion, she has even pranked her parents a couple times over the years. For one prank, she told her parents that she still uses her pacifier, and has been keeping it from them all this time. She got it out from the keepsake box, went into the living room and showed them. After seeing the worried look on her mother's face, she started laughing and shouted "April Fools". Stacy didn't think the prank was funny at all, and grounded her the next day.

For this year, Stacy wanted to make it like she forgot her birthday entirely. To do this, she didn't decorate anything, and waited until she was at school to start. Whenever Audrey asked about her birthday, Stacy ignored her. When Audrey persisted, Stacy countered by saying that it wasn't her birthday today, which really frustrated Audrey. Stacy kept this up, even when she dropped Audrey and Timothy off at school.

Over the course of the day, Stacy set everything up. She then drove off to school with Zachary to pick up Audrey and Timothy.

On the way home, Audrey smiled, giving her mother a suspicious look. "Out with it, mom! You know it's my birthday!"

Stacy shook her head. "It's not your birthday. I'm your mother, and I would know when your birthday is."

"And it's today." Audrey argued.

"No it's not."

"Mom! Stop it! You do remember when my birthday is, right?"

"It is not your birthday."

"It so is!" Audrey shouted. "Why are you doing this?"

Stacy produced a convincing scowl. "If it was your birthday, wouldn't I have decorated the living room?"

"So? Perhaps you forgot to decorate it this year. You at least got cake and presents, right?"

"No cake and no presents, Audrey. It's not your birthday, so I didn't buy anything."

"Mom!" Audrey whined. "Stop messing around!"

"Stop yelling, or you're grounded." Stacy warned.

Audrey gasped in disbelief. "What?" she cried. "You can't ground me on my birthday!"

"I can, because it's not your birthday, honey." she stated with a strong insistence. "Now be quiet, or you WILL be grounded. Do  I make myself clear?"

Audrey burst into tears. "But it's my birthday!!!" she wailed. "On April 1st! It's always been!"

"Listen miss," Stacy snapped. "I know when your birthday is, and it's not today. The doctors made a mistake. It's April 2nd. They told me this a couple weeks ago. The date on the birth certificate is wrong."

"But!" Audrey cried. "It's my birthday!"

"That's it." Stacy told her. "You're grounded. When you get home, you're going up to your room."

Audrey continued crying "But m-"

"Quiet!" Stacy interrupted.

"I-"

"Shut it!"

"Bu-"

"Shush."

Audrey gave up. In looking at her mom's expression, it didn't look like she was joking at all. With that, she sat with her hands crossed and pouted the rest of the way home.

While all this was going on, Zachary looked at Audrey and frowned. "Why Audwee cwying?"

Timothy, who was in on the joke, frowned. "Audrey thinks it's her birthday." he told his "younger" brother. "But it's not her birthday. Our mommy just said. And mommy's always right...."

Satisfied with the answer, Zachary focused his attention on Audrey and tried smiling to cheer her up.

When they got home, there were no cars parked anywhere. David was not even home yet.

After Audrey unstrapped herself from her booster seat, Stacy took her by the hand and led her right into the house.

"Before you go up to your room, you're getting a spanking." Stacy told her. "First, I'm going to turn on the lights so I can see everything more clearly."

After Stacy turned on the lights, all of the decorations were visible. There were streamers with a banner that read "Happy 10th Birthday, Audrey!". A large number of people came out from behind the furniture. This included Mary, Richard, Gina, Harold, David, Patrick, Emma and the rest of the Robinson children. Caitlyn wheeled herself into the living room from the kitchen, since she was wheelchair bound, and there was no easy way for her to hide in the living room. Out of their hiding places, they all stared at Audrey, smiling. "SURPRISE!" They all shouted in unison. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AUDREY!"

Stacy turned at Audrey and smiled. "April Fools, honey! I made everything up about the birth certificates."

Audrey, still upset from earlier, braced her shoulders around her stomach and pouted. "Mom!" She shouted. "That was the meanest prank in the world!"

Audrey tried to hit her, but Stacy held her hand out in defense. "Mean?" she said, laughing. "What about the one you did last year? I grounded you for that. This was my year to get even, honey!"

Audrey was unmoved. "It was still mean, mom. How am I supposed to be happy when you 'pretended' to ground me?"

David frowned, and adjusted his glasses. "Come on Audrey. It was just a joke. It's your birthday! Loosen up and have fun!"

"No!" Audrey shouted. "I won't until mom apologizes."

Stacy sighed. Despite it being really fun to exact her revenge on her daughter, perhaps she was taking it a little too far. "I'm sorry, honey." she said, as she wrapped her right arm around Audrey in half-embrace. "If it will make you feel better, you can punish me for this whole thing."

Audrey's scowl became a widening smile. "Punish?" she said in a mischievous tone. "Okay.....It was a pretty mean joke, but I forgive you. We'll discuss this later, mom - in your room!"

Stacy nodded. "Sure, honey. Let's get this party started!"

While the party was going on, David took Richard, Mary, Harold and Patrick to Mary and Richard's house, which was just a short distance away. All of the cars were parked over there, so they could set the impression for Audrey that no one was home. Mary would drive the minivan back to the Willowbrook house, while David would drive his car back. Richard would drive his car back with Patrick following in his car.

When everyone got back, the party continued. More cars came over, which were a few of Audrey's friends.

For the party, there was a variety of games for everyone to play, with some other games set up for the younger ones.

After the games, dinner was served. The meal was homemade pizza with fruit salad. The majority of the pizza was vegetables, with some pepperoni and sausage mixed in. The fruit salad was a mixture of mandarin oranges, apples, pineapples, bananas, grapes, strawberries and marshmallows.

When the dinner was finished, Audrey opened her presents. She received a couple makeup kits, a diary, some colored pencils, a locket, and various other gifts.

For the cake, Stacy made a yellow cake with vanilla frosting. The ice cream included vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, which was Audrey's favorite.

After the cake, everyone left. From what Stacy saw, her impression was that Audrey really enjoyed the party. Everyone had a lot of fun. Accomplished and satisfied, Stacy went to bed.

Audrey lay on her bed, smiling. The party was fun, despite the mean April Fool's joke that mom played. Having remembered what her mom promised her, Audrey's smile grew even bigger. She can remember her mom saying 'you can punish me for this whole thing'. Audrey let out a sinister laugh, as she began plotting a punishment that would be suitable for her mother.