Daydream Believer

v. parties and presents

v. parties and presents

It was September 14th, my birthday. I had already gotten my presents from Mommy and Daddy, which included lots of books and stuffed animals. Now I was standing outside the bowling alley, waiting for everyone else to get here.

I don't know why Mommy decided to have this at a bowling alley. I don't even like bowling and I'm not good at it. I kind of hoped nobody would show up. Then it would just be me, Mommy, Daddy, and Noah. That would be fun.

A gray car pulled up in front of the bowling alley. Aaron got out of it. "Remember to say thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Gregory," I heard Aaron's mommy say.

"Okay Mommy," Aaron said.

"Tell McKenna happy birthday too," Aaron's mommy said to him.

"I will," Aaron said.

"Bye! Have fun!"

"Bye Mommy!"

Aaron walked up to me with a weirdly shaped present. "Happy birthday McKenna," he said. "Do you know who else is here?"

I shook the present and held it up to my ear. It sounded like something big. "Nobody else so far," I said, heading into the bowling alley. So far, I was stuck with Aaron for the next two hours. At least there was cake and presents.

Another car pulled up. Justin came out. "Hi McKenna," he said as he handed me a big bag. I peeked into the bag. Books and a big box of crayons. That would be fun to play with later. "Happy birthday."

"Thanks Justin," I said.

Nobody else came. It was just the three of us. We entered the bowling alley. I searched through the bowling balls and found the lightest one. Daddy was nearby setting up a big table with food. There was popcorn, pizza, lemonade, water, pretzels, and nachos. There was also a big cake that said "Happy Birthday McKenna!" Maybe I would just stay there.

"Come on McKenna! It's your turn!" Aaron shouted.

I walked over towards their lane. I took my bowling ball and rolled it towards the pins.

"Wow! That was a strike!" Aaron said.

"That's really impressive," Justin said.

"Thank you," I said quietly.

Justin took his turn next. He got a gutter ball. Aaron was a lot better at bowling. He got eights and nines most of the time. After a while, I just sat down and stopped playing. Justin sat down next to me.

"Hi McKenna," he said.

"Hi," I said.

"Aaron's going to win," he said.

"Yeah, he is," I said.

Justin adjusted his glasses. "I wish I brought a book."

"Me too," I said.

"What kind of books do you like to read?" he asked.

"Well, I like ones with dragons. Not the mean ones though. Just the nice ones. I like dinosaurs too. And magic. I like magic."

"That's cool," Justin said. "I'll read anything honestly."

"I know. You're really smart."

Justin smiled. "Thanks McKenna," he said.

"Hey, is everyone ready for cake?" Daddy asked.

"CAKE!!" Aaron screamed.

"I'll take that as a yes," Daddy said as he started cutting the cake. He took out the candles. "Now McKenna, how old are you today?" I held up six fingers. Daddy put six candles in the cake.

"Can we sing the happy birthday song?" Noah asked.

"Yes Noah, of course we're going to sing the happy birthday song. It's my birthday," I told him.

"Yay!" Noah exclaimed.

They sang to me and then I blew out the candles. Daddy gave everyone a piece of cake. As I was eating the cake, I started unwrapping my presents.

"Open mine first!" Aaron shouted. "Because I won!"

"McKenna and I weren't playing," Justin said.

I took Aaron's present and unwrapped it. There was a triceratops. I smiled. "Thank you Aaron. I'm going to name her..." I glanced at her red skin. "Strawberry."

"That's a nice name," Aaron said.

I took Justin's present and opened it. I was right. It was a book. "Thank you Justin," I said.

I looked outside. Two cars were pulled up outside the bowling alley. "Wow, it's 5:00 already!" Daddy said. "It was nice having you two here."

"Thank you Mr. Gregory!" Aaron exclaimed.

"You're welcome Aaron," Daddy said.

Aaron and Justin waved as they left. I hugged Strawberry. I guess my birthday wasn't too bad. Maybe that was just the cake and presents though. Still, it was a pretty good birthday.