The Married Life of the Hamilton-Laurens

The Birthday Party

     Philip blew out his candles as 'Happy Birthday' ended. Alex and John clapped, and Philip grabbed the big 6 candle of the top of the chocolate cake.

"Ow!" He screeched, throwing the candle across the room. "The candle was really hot!"

"Well, it was on fire a few minutes ago," John said, picking his son up and dabbing some cool water on his hand. Alex smiled at his husband. While Alex taught third graders, John had the job of making sure no kindergarteners were killed.

Luckily or unluckily, depending on who you asked, Philip was in Mr. Madison's class rather than John's class. John had been a TA with Madison when Alex had first met him. All the teachers agreed that Madison was an ass, though he was only outpaced by Jefferson, the teacher Alex had been a TA under. Jefferson had been moved from teaching third graders to teaching fourth graders. Principal Washington said it was a promotion, but the rumor was that he got in trouble for 'scaring the children', as Peggy said.

"Hey, dad," both John and Alex looked up at Frances, "do I have to eat the cake? Philip spit all over it."

"I did not!" Philip said indignantly.

"Did to!" Despite what the nine year old may try to get people to believe, she wasn't much more mature than Philip.

"I have never seen you give up cake willingly before," Alex said. She shrugged. She was eventually coaxed into eating a slice of cake. After the rest of the family had eaten it, though, there was still half the cake left. Alex made a mental note to leave the rest in the break room.

"So, Philip, you're finally six. Do you want to have a birthday party?" John asked Philip.

"I guess." He was already eyeing the presents.

"Enthusiastic much." Alex turned towards John.

"Hey, he probably just wants to open his presents. Plus, he's six. We'll just end up planning the whole party for him." John shrugged at Alex's words.

"Can I open presents already?" Philip whined.

"Sure," John and Alex said at the same time. Philip ripped open a shiny pink box from Angie. There was a big box of 100 different colors of crayons, and a pad of paper. A yellow box held a stuffed alligator from Peggy. Finally the last box, from John and Alex, was an easel and some paints, as well as a few paintbrushes.

"Thank you daddies! This is awesome!" Phillip was jumping up and down, already filling a cup with water. "Frances! Sit down, I want to paint you!" Frances looked embarrassed, but not nearly embarrassed enough not to sit on the futon and pose for her brother.

"Hey," Alex said as Philip started painting something that vaguely resembled his sister, "do you want to have a birthday party?"

"Sure."

"What theme do you want?" He thought for a moment, briefly putting down the paintbrush. John raced to put a paper towel beneath the paint soaked object, and Alex had to stifle a laugh.

"Hm. Maybe we should have a art themed party!"

"That sounds great," John said, "is there anything else you want?"

"Not really. Whatever's fine." The two adults left the two kids and went into the kitchen.

"They'll probably be occupied for at least a half hour," John mumbled, pouring himself a drink.

"Yeah. I'm actually pretty excited to plan a party for Philip. All the parties we've thrown for Frances have been fine, but," he paused, "she's not the most social girl."

"Even Burr agreed with me on that," Alex said, smirking. It was a known fact at the office that Burr and Alex didn't get along. Angie's girlfriend, Theodosia, and Peggy would place bets on what their next argument would be. John hated to admit it, but sometimes he would gamble with them.

"Uh, how many kindergarteners are there? I've made like fourty million invitations already." Alex put down a letter addressed to Meg Eacker.

"Alex, there are only 23 kindergartens, and only 11 are in Philip's class. That's only 10 invitations. I've seen you grade 25 essays in an hour. This is nothing."

"Whatever, John. I was thinking we could make a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting."

"Basic, but that doesn't matter with five and six year olds. They eat dirt. I once had to give my class a lecture on why eating paint was a bad thing."

"Whenever I hear stories about your class, I'm so glad I teach third grade." John shrugged.

"It's fun. I don't really mind, I love the kids, they're amazing. I just wish I could teach Philip, since Frances was also in Madison's class."

"Oh well. I'm not looking forward to teaching Frances next year."

"She's quite a handful."

"I actually miss the kids," Alex said.

"Alex, they're just at their friend's houses." Philip was staying with his friend James, and Frances was staying over at her friend Rachel's house. Without the kids, the Hamilton-Laurens house seemed empty without the near constant screaming.

"Oh well. We really do need to plan for this party."

"Yeah." When they finished they curled up on the couch and watched 'Beauty and the Beast.' Then, when Philip got back, they let him pick the show. Alex didn't even complain when they watched Sesame Street.

The big day had finally arrived. A steady stream of six year olds streamed through the door, carrying celebratory bags and beautifully wrapped boxes. The dining room table was heaped with presents.

Philip was running around with his friends, distributing pretzels and apple juice between all the kindergarteners.

"Hey, guys, do you want to hit the piñata?" Alex held out the object, filled with candy and shaped like a paint palette.

"Yeah!" A chorus of voices cheered. Alex got out a broom and held out the piñata. Each kid took a turn whacking at the paper mache palette.

Finally Meg smashed it and sweets rained down everywear. Philip's classmates snatched it all, and Alex saw Phillip smash a Hershey's Kiss into his mouth, flashing his friends a chocolate grin.

Alex was really happy his son was happy. As he looked around at the party, he decided that he couldn't be happier with his life.