Party Like It’s 2099

The lights shone brightly out of the windows of the large mansion. The warm glow cast around the snowy white lawn gave the home a feeling of welcome. That same feeling was extended inside to a large room where a group of long-time friends had gathered to visit, talk, and catch-up. It was a season of thanksgiving, and this was a time for Friendsgiving.

It had been almost fifteen years since their club began, and somehow through it all, the mysteries, the trips, the romantic break-ups, the group managed to remain close friends. Close enough that mysteries still managed to creep into their lives, the trips were planned as a group, and the friendship remained as strong as if they were all still attending Sleepyside Jr.-Sr. High School.

It was Diana’s turn to host the annual Friendsgiving gathering, and she chose her parent’s home in Sleepyside. Her choice made it easy for all of them, and while Di’s parents would’ve happily hosted them all and served a lavish feast, they used the same approach they did on all their group vacations. They handled everything – the cooking, groceries, entertainment. It made for good camaraderie and a way for them to all catch-up on what had transpired in the last six months.

Now they sat, fully sated from their feast and debating the night’s entertainment. Several wanted a holiday movie while others lobbied for a rousing game of charades. Trixie was the lone holdout for a game of murder.

Diana came in with a bucket of ice and interrupted the lively debate. “One of our junior Bobwhites wants to talk to us about something.” She sat the ice down on the bar and turned around. "Bobby wants to ask us something, but he's being --" she paused and debated using the word before she plowed ahead, let the devil be damned! "He's being mysterious."

The males of the group groaned, while both Trixie and Honey perked up.

"What do you mean, mysterious?" Honey managed before Trixie could ask.

"He just said he needed to talk to us in confidence and that what was said would never leave the room." Diana shrugged. "I'm not even sure why he asked me, instead of one of you."

Dan and Mart exchanged a look. They both knew why Bobby had asked Diana. There was a serious crush on the beautiful brunette from the younger man, and it was easy to see why. Besides her gentle and sweet personality, Diana was gorgeous. Not just a beauty, but a rare beauty and to top it off, she never dismissed the compliments she received. Any and all were given a gracious smile and sincere thanks; she made the giver feel as if he mattered. It was a lethal combination and the lucky man who convinced her to give him more than a smile, would be a real winner. Diana remained single by choice, often explaining she wasn’t ready to settle down.

"Where is he then?" asked Trixie. "Is he here?"

"I think he's in the kitchen with Harrison."

Harrison had been with the Lynch family for over a decade and a half. By this time, he was more than their butler, he managed them all, without them feeling the least bit managed. There was little doubt that Bobby Belden was being managed while waiting.

"Get him, then," Jim said. "Let's see what he wants to talk about."

Diana exited the room with a smoothness that would make a supermodel envious and returned in short order with a blushing Bobby Belden. She motioned him to a seat on one of the sectional pieces of furniture, making sure he was comfortable. It took several minutes of small talk before Bobby asked his question.

"You see, the thing is, I'm going to be twenty-one in a little more than a month. All my friends on the football team, they want to take me out to a bar and get me drunk, do 21 shots or something like that."

“Is that what you want to do?” Honey asked, sensing his discomfort.

"No,” he replied. "Not at all. I've already had a beer or two, even some scotch.” He avoided meeting the eyes of the male Bobwhites. Trixie realized it was one, or more, or maybe even all of them, who had provided Bobby his first taste of alcohol. Bobby was careful not to give away who had been complicit in his underage drinking.

"It's just not something that I'd aspire to do, have a lot of alcohol and get drunk. It doesn't interest me in the least. I'd rather do something that's fun. Go play some top golf, go skating in the ice rink in Rockefeller Park, shoot some pool. I dunno really. It’s just that bar drinking sounds stupid."

"So why don't you just tell your friends that?" Brian asked. "It's your birthday. It should be about what you want."

"Actually, I did tell them. But they think I'm nuts. That I'm missing some big rite of passage to show my ID to a bartender and have them give me a drink on the house or something."

"I don't think you’re nuts," Diana said. "I agree with Brian. It's your birthday. Tell them you want to do something. You could always go to Vegas, or Atlantic City and spend a weekend there taking in the sights. You have to be 21 to gamble as well."

"Oh, I did tell them, and I have told them. But all their protests made me second-guess myself, and then it made me wonder."

"Wonder what?" Trixie's eyes narrowed. She had a suspicion of what was coming.

"What did each of you do to celebrate your 21st birthday?" Bobby asked. "I mean is it always about alcohol consumption or ..." his voice trailed off and he looked around the room. The males were all exchanging looks with one another. "I promise, if you'll tell me then it won't go any further. I just want to make sure I'm not going to miss out on something."

"Your day, your party, your choice," Mart summed it up for them all.

Bobby looked around the room to a group of nodding heads. "It's really that simple, huh?"

Jim shrugged. "Yeah, it should be, but I for one don't mind telling you what I did. What about the rest of you?"

The group exchanged looks. Brows were lifted in question, nods exchanged. Trixie spoke for them all.

"We'll share with you Bobby, but we're going to hold you to that promise. What's said in this room, stays in this room. You don't repeat our stories. They’re our stories to tell." She paused briefly. "If that works?"

Bobby let out a breath of air. "Yeah, that works. And I promise. No sharing."

"Okay, then." Dan made the next suggestion. "How about we go oldest to youngest? Brian, does that work for you?"

Brian nodded. "Yeah, but this might be the most boring story you've ever heard about a med school student coming of age."

"I'm not going to judge your stories," Bobby protested.

"It's fine," Trixie reassured him. "But there's going to be one more condition before Brian starts."

"What's that?"

"Whatever you decide, whatever you do, we want to hear about it. Deal?" she grinned.

"Deal!" he grinned back. He shot a glance from his blue eyes to his oldest brother's brown eyes. "Well what do you say, Brian?"

“My story is pretty straight-forward and well, it won’t surprise any of you to learn, it’s quite boring.” Brian grinned at the other Bobwhites laughed. Brian’s reputation as the boring one was a constant point of teasing in the group.

“Okay, okay, I get it. This is going to sound crazy, right, but I’ve always been the strait-laced one.” Again, the group laughed and Brian waited before he continued. Looking Bobby straight in the eye he started, “Okay, it happened like this."

Brian

By the time I was turning twenty-one, and could legally purchase and drink alcohol, I was surrounded by friends in med school who had already passed that milestone. Most kids my age were still in undergrad so the biggest surprise to my fellow students was the fact I couldn’t drink. Don’t get my wrong, there are plenty of students younger than me in med school, but I didn’t look that much younger. Another thing that factored into what I did to celebrate was the fact my birthday was a school night. And I don’t mean the kind of school night you have in high school. I mean the kind where you have class at eight and a lab right after and you’ll be lucky to get some lunch. Skipping or being late just doesn’t cut it when you’re in med school. Going to a lab with a hangover is a waste of time, you have to be focused because there’s almost no way to catch up. So yeah, coming of age in the world of a med school student is completely dependent on how many classes, labs, and exams are looming.

The night before my birthday I ventured out to the store. It was about ten minutes before midnight, and I browsed the shelves until I found a bottle that looked interesting. Matthew Wheeler always seemed to favor scotch and that seemed to speak to me. By the time it was midnight I had my bottle selected. After that, it was a simple matter of slapping that bottle down on the counter next to the register. The damn clerk didn’t even ask me for my ID! Talk about a letdown! I was underwhelmed and thought about opening the bottle and taking a swig right there in the store. But then my responsible personality kicked in full force and I waited until I got back to my room, took a sip and about fifteen minutes later I finally stopped coughing and went to bed.

Let me just say, I think that’s not much of a celebration, and I have every confidence that the rest of the Bobwhites will have better stories to top this birthday story. But there you have it.

Back to the present …

“So that's it? That was your entire 21st birthday story?" Bobby asked in disbelief.

"That's it, Brian replied. "Clearly you've never lived the life of a med school student. Constant exhaustion and sleep deprivation in the middle of a term just doesn’t lead one to schedule all night parties."

"Huh, I see I guess," Bobby answered doubtfully. "No offense, Bro, but I sure as hell hope my celebration is a little, well better than that!"

"No offense at all," Brian replied cheerfully. "Let's just say that my real celebration came after med school graduation."

Bobby's face perked up. "Yeah? What did you do then?"

Brian wagged his finger back and forth. "Uh uh, that wasn't the deal. It was my 21st birthday story you wanted and that's what you got. I'll tell you the other story when you're forty."

They all laughed and took a moment to grab a handful of snack food, refresh their drinks and settle back down for the next story. Taking a long drink of cola, Bobby looked at Jim and asked. "You're next, right?"

Jim nodded. "I think that I can improve on Brian's story, but not by much."

"Mr. Honorable, you know," Trixie said as an aside to Honey.

"What was that, Trix?" He gave her a look.

"Nothing,” she replied sweetly, blinking her eyes in mock innocence. "Let's all hear the story."

"Okay, well you see it was like this."

Jim

One of the nice things about having a birthday in July is unless you’re attending summer school you don’t have to worry about school or classes. That held true for my coming of age birthday as well and while I didn’t have any classes I did have this little thing called a summer job. The job was actually pretty good, one of my better experiences, but there was no way I would’ve jeopardized anything about the position. Not only was the position going to give me some credits towards my master’s degree, there were people involved that I needed to impress. It’s not all about the grades, job experience matters, and this was my first real opportunity to show that I could do something besides camp counselor.

Still, my birthday was on a Friday so my friends at work decided we would celebrate in style. That summer my job was in Arkansas but it was really close to the state line. Just across the state line, there was this crazy bar that was pretty much a happening kind of place on the weekends. Now you have to understand, this job was in the middle of nowhere. Truly. Middle. Of. Nowhere. When I say a happening kind of place you need to think Midwest, country roads. Rednecks. Get the picture?

Well, this happening place, Daiquiri World was the name, gave everyone a free drink and a t-shirt on their 21^st birthday. Naturally my fellow summer colleagues thought this was where we needed to be to celebrate. Just about the entire team was onboard complete with other friends, friends-of-friends, girlfriends. By the time everyone was there it was large and loud crowd of people. My friends made sure to make the night all about me turning twenty-one. When I arrived, they handed me this hideous t-shirt to put on and escorted me to the bar and ordered the free drink. As you can imagine since the name of the place was Daiquiri World, my first drink was a daiquiri. I’m not positive, but I think that was the one and only daiquiri I’ve ever had, it was truly disgusting! Try to think of some cheap generic Kool-Aid combined with a mint mouthwash and a wilted pineapple skewer. Unfortunately, they made me drink the entire thing while they all sang to me. Fortunately, once that was gone, my friends bought me beer. Unfortunately, are there plenty of photos of this event and that hideous t-shirt? Well, yeah, the bar gives those out to the birthday person and to say it was as garish was an understatement. It was neon pink with lime green and violet purple swirls. That was about the time that I realized this free drink and t-shirt were oriented towards females. Although to be politically correct about it, I should say those who identify with colors and beverages that are historically associated with a feminine slant. For what it’s worth, I can’t imagine how anyone drinks something that sickly sweet. Moonshine would’ve been better than whatever was the base of that drink. I could feel my teeth rotting from the sugar. It’s hard to imagine that someone would actually purchase that particular drink, that’s how bad it was. Dad likes his scotch, and I have to agree it’s pretty good at times. But give me a good beer any day over that sweet cocktail liquor stuff.

Anyway, there were some drinking games, a lot of bad singing, and honestly, yes I had a good time. We basically partied until two in the morning when the bar closed down. We’d had a designated driver and made it back without any incident. Fortunately, we did not have to work the next day and fortunately, despite numerous beers, no hangover for me. That’s about it.

Back to the present …

“Wow! You really think that’s better than Brian’s celebration?” Bobby asked dubiously. “I’m not so sure.”

The Bobwhites laughed, but Jim just smiled innocently. “Well that’s not the whole story of the evening. Did I mention the poles that were strategically placed all over the bar?”

“Poles?” Honey frowned. “You mean like support columns?”

Mart snorted and Dan grinned.

“He means like stripper poles,” Di said disdainfully. “I imagine since he left that out there weren’t any strippers that night.”

Jim grinned. “Whatever you say, Di.” He lifted his glass in toast and gave her a wink. There had been one stripper that mattered, but there was no way he was telling THAT part of the story to the group. He didn’t give a damn about what being said in the room staying in the room, but that piece of information was strictly on a need-to-know basis and most of the people in the room did not need to know! Not to mention, the bar did not allow any pictures made with strippers. Besides, for him, the best celebration had been on Saturday night when Trixie showed up to celebrate with him. And THAT was another part of the story that wouldn’t be shared with anyone else.

“Guess that makes me the next one,” Dan offered. “Trust me, I had a party. It helps to have a birthday in February. All the Mardi Gras parties make a difference.

“You celebrated Mardi Gras style for your birthday?” Bobby asked with interest.

“No, actually,” Dan replied. “That’s what I thought we’d be doing, but the guys ended up going in a completely different direction. It was like this.”

Dan

Hola! Yeah, I went all out Mexican fiesta for my 21^st. Feliz cumpleanos to me! Felicidades! Que cumplas muchos mas!

Since I had absolutely had alcohol on more than one occasion prior to turning twenty-one, you might think the festivities of the night would be overlooked. But no way. My friends made sure that it was a day that would not go unnoticed. So take a Mexican cantina, a casino, a small town bar, a good bit of tequila, and enough Mexican food to make you sick and you know what you get?

Yeah, you get my twenty-first birthday celebration.

The cantina and casino were great, so was the food, but when you add it all together with tequila, it will make you do things you never imagined. So imagine this -- Dan Mangan singing at a bar. Not a karaoke bar either. I basically took over the small stage at the bar and destroyed the song Fight for Your Right to Party. Although, my uncle swears that I didn’t do a half bad job with Bye Bye Bye, but you try and live down singing *NSYNC live and in person. It took me until the end of the school year to regain my street cred. Not to mention, I don’t think I could sing any of those songs while I’m sober, and trust me when I say that I’m not ever going to try!

I had a great time, but let’s just say I’m positive that there are still one or two videos floating around out there that I’ve yet to hunt down and destroy. But no fear! I will find them!

Back to the Lynch manor…

“Nice accent on the Spanish,” Mart remarked giving Dan an appreciative nod and completely ignoring the comment on the videos. That little piece of blackmail was backed up and saved in more places than he could count.

“Yeah, I’ve been working on it. It’s a twenty percent increase in pay once I can pass the exam as bilingual.” The group knew Dan had been working on his Spanish ever since he’d found out about the automatic salary stipend.

“A video, huh?” Trixie mused, her blue eyes twinkling. “Need some help tracking those down, Dan?” She of course knew exactly where two backups of the videos were located. Dan was right, he could not sing.

“Not on your life, Trix,” he shot back. “Leave that investigation alone.”

“Come on Dan,” Honey teased. “You could just sing a verse or two…”

“ Hey, hey. Bye bye bye, bye bye, bye, bey. I want to see you out that door. Baby, bye-bye-bye,” she sang as Di and Trixie joined her.

Dan just shook his head. “Never means never. Or if you like in honor of the fiesta that was my birthday, Eso nunca sucedera!”

“Nunca!”

They all laughed.

Mart stood, cleared his throat and took a bow, before speaking. “Very well, it appears that I would be the coterminous individual in the sequence of natal days.”

The group gave a collective groan. Mart never lost his love for a well-developed vocabulary.

“Yeah, you’re next. Let’s hear it,” Trixie leaned forward. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard this one.”

“No fears, my dear sibling. “It will be quite short.”

“You didn’t have a party?” Honey asked, suddenly concerned.

“Oh, he had a party, alright,” Dan answered. “Let’ see what he has to say about it.” He leaned back and extended one arm along the back of the sectional. “This should be good. “

Mart

When it comes to celebrations, I’m the guy that’s ready. After all, food is usually front and center for most birthday celebrations. Oh, and let me give a shout out to the sweet Diana who took the time that morning to make me cupcakes and deliver them fresh to me along with a balloon and card.

Of course I proceed to properly acknowledge the blushing Di with a mock salute and bow before continuing with my tale of birthday celebrations.

After eating a cupcake, perhaps three cupcakes, I mean it was my birthday and who counts cupcakes on their birthday? The focus was completely on the entertainment planned for the evening with all of the aforementioned storytellers.

The first of June is a great day for a birthday celebration because school is finished, summer terms haven’t started and even those who accepted jobs are able to make the date to celebrate. The event du jour was planned for the local sports bar and after Di’s delivery of awesome gifts, it was all about the evening’s entertainment. I believe, that I did manage to have a few wings before the first beverage was served—

“A few wings!” Jim interrupted me in the telling of this tale, his eyes narrowing as he glared at me. “It was at least two dozen!”

“Exactly!” I pointed my finger in his direction. “Like I was saying, a few wings. Now, I did not interrupt your story with comments about daiquiris.”

Jim’s face reddened and he mumbled an apology. One that I was quite due I might add.

Anyway, as I was saying, there was a minor moment of eating. After that, you’ll have to decide how much of the rest of the story is true.

I couldn’t help myself and gave a dramatic pause for effect. My story wouldn’t be much but I could tell it well.

The sum total of all the events that unfolded on my 21^st birthday may never be accurately recorded. Because you see, the lack of suitable nourishment resulted in me passing out early on in the event, and I remember nothing. Well, not exactly nothing, because I remember those smoked wings. I also remember going to the bar in Sleepyside and I remember my friend Dan buying me my first drink. After that … who knows? I remember nothing until waking up the next morning, face down in my bed, completely dressed including my shoes. When I got up the next morning, I went downstairs and ate breakfast with my family, but honestly, I can’t even remember that breakfast. Can you imagine? Me forgetting a meal? Forgetting that I was even eating. It’s inconceivable!

Back to the present…

Mart took another bow and sat back down on the sofa.

“He ate a lot more than one plate of wings, I can assure you of that!” Brian supplementing the tale and rolling his eyes. “And the next morning he ate four waffles!”

“So how much did he actually drink?” Trixie asked. “Is he a lightweight or …”

“Um, he had at least several flights after the first drink,” Dan answered, a grin on his face.

“What was the first drink?” Trixie asked and at the same time Diana asked her question. “What’s a flight?”

Dan continued to answer the questions, he had no problem remembering Mart’s 21^st birthday. “The first drink was twenty-one year old scotch,” Dan explained. “We’d arranged it ahead of time. You know it honor of him turning twenty-one.”

“Yes, like I said, I remember the scotch,” Mart reminded them. “A delicious character with a hint of woodsy apple afternotes and quite complex. It was magnificent.”

“Yeah, and it was thirty bucks,” Dan mumbled. “So that’s why we moved to flights. “A flight is an assortment of craft beers, Di. They come in groups of several beers in smaller glasses. I guess one flight it probably at least two pints of beer, and he had …” Dan paused and shook his head. “He had a lot of flights. I think he tried every craft beer they had.”

“Yeah,” Brian added. “But he didn’t sing. At least not at the bar.”

“Yeah, and he didn’t use big words either,” Jim grinned. “That was the real blessing of him drinking all that beer.”

“What else did he do?” Honey asked.

“Nothing really, he just kept thanking us all for being there and kept eating wings and drinking beer. It wasn’t until he actually passed out face down in a plate of wings, that we realized he’d had too much to drink.”

“Too much to drink or too much to eat?” Trixie rolled her eyes. “It might have been a food coma.”

Dan grinned. “Good point, but yeah, we just loaded him up and took him home and dumped him in his bed. He woke up when we got there and put on a little show. He was wanting lunch, and it took some time to convince him it was two in the morning. When we told him no, he went quietly to bed.”

“My recommendation to you Bob, is that you avoid drinking to the point of not being able to remember the occasion,” Mart said. “After all, I only have the word of these three,” his hand waved to take in Brian, Jim and Dan. “Of the actual events. I will say, I do not have any unexplained tattoos, so there is that to be grateful for.”

Trixie’s eyes narrowed. “Does that mean you have an explained tattoo you failed to include in that story.”

“No comment,” Mart replied. “And for the record, not on my birthday, so if I do, it would not be required to be included in this telling of my coming-of-age.”

The girls giggled and Bobby looked at Trixie. “Your turn,” he said looking around at the girls. “Right, Trixie is the oldest?”

Trixie nodded and took a deep breath.

“Sure, no problem. You see, it was like this.”

Trixie

This story will probably be in the running for the most boring. It’s probably the worst story you’ll ever hear because it was such a big letdown. I mean, I certainly remember turning 21 but you have to realize my older brothers had already achieved this milestone without me around. Mart will tell you he doesn’t remember, but I can remember this much … he came home that night singing, dancing, and laughing like he’d had the best night of his life. I just knew my experience would be fun as well, and I’d be introduced to the mysteries and secrets of a party in a bar.

Still being at school, it was finishing up a week of finals and I had still had two more to go, so I had to play it safe. There was no way I could let a celebration mess up my grades. I wasn’t like I was going to straight As, but trust me I had some hard-earned Bs on the line for those last two exams.

It sounds like a mix-up of Brian and Jim’s party. I had my legal ID clutched in my hot little hand, and went to the popular bar just off the campus of the college. Kids had talked about it for a while, so I was excited to actually go inside and see for myself. What a let down! Honestly, the place was a dive. It was far worse than Jimmy’s on Cobbett’s Island. It was practically deserted, because you know, finals week. I wasn’t the only college student avoiding bars that week. As popular as it was, it was still hard to believe that there wasn’t anyone there that I knew. Once I realized that I was on my own, I just sat down at the bar and ordered a beer. At least I got asked for my ID, and the bartender saw it was my birthday and gave me the beer for free. I drank it and talked with the bartender for about an hour. He was actually a med-school student, so I told him about Brian and we talked about his experiences in school and he told me some of the worst 21^st birthday celebrations he’d seen at the bar. Trust me, we are all boring compared to his stories! He asked me if I wanted another beer, but instead I tried a shot of tequila. Did the whole lime, salt thing and honestly, that was pretty tasty. I still like tequila shots to this day, but without anyone there to share the moment with me besides the bartender, it felt awkward. He didn’t want to charge me for any of it, so I left him a good tip, and then went back to the dorm to study. Maybe on another night or with more of my friends around it would’ve been a singing, dancing experience, but not on my actual birthday. All my friends did get together when exams were over for everyone and we went out and celebrated my birthday on Cinco de Mayo with pitchers of margaritas and platters of tacos. That was a lot of fun, and we did the tequila shots all over again. I must admit, I do like tequila!

Back to the present …

Jim caught her eye and they shared a small smile that the others missed. Jim was supportive of her fondness for tequila since just like the country song, it made her clothes fall off! But that was nothing that needed to be shared since it that hadn’t happened on the day she turned twenty-one. Jim did show up for the fiesta that followed, and that was all that mattered.

“Gleeps, Trixie! That was all you did?” Mart scrunched his nose.

“Didn’t you hear me, there was a party with food later - platters of tacos, not to mention enchiladas, nachos, great food. But I did warn you the actual day was boring,” she replied with a toss of her head. “Besides, I already knew what was coming in June with Honey’s birthday and that was really going to celebrate my birthday as well. So I was pretty happy with my celebrations. Besides, it could’ve been so much worse. The bartender told me a story about someone who had reserved a table, came in with their own party decorations, a cake and ordered several pitchers of beer and then nobody showed up to their party. I was just about ready to cry in my beer at that point. I’ll take my experience any day of that poor guy’s birthday celebration.”

The group got quiet as they contemplated the idea of none of your friends coming to your party, and then Bobby cleared his throat.

“Okay then, who’s left?”

Honey smiled. “I do feel bad for that person, and hopefully later they were able to have a better celebration because mine was… well, it was perfectly perfect! But all of you know about my party because you were all there. Even you, Bobby.”

Bobby had to laugh. “Yeah, it was pretty awesome, but I don’t think I was part of all the festivities. Go ahead and tell your story like I wasn’t there, please?”

Honey nodded. “Okay, you see it was like this.”

The group settled comfortably in their chairs, Honey’s birthday had been a celebration for the record books.

Honey

My twenty-first birthday couldn’t have been any better. My parents gave me a surprise party. In Paris. Honestly, I can’t believe they pulled it off and they probably wouldn’t have if Trixie and Jim hadn’t been in on it. They left a couple of days before my birthday on a last-minute business trip. They apologized over and over again for missing my birthday, but Daddy promised that he had given Jim some instructions and that I’d be looked after in style and that we would celebrate in New York when they returned.

So, the night before my birthday, about ten I think, Trixie comes bursting into my room. Like only Trixie can, she was going on and on about I had to come with her, right that minute, it couldn’t wait. She was beside herself, and I just knew that we were starting a new mystery. Trust me when I say, Trixie can be a fairly good actress and she had me going. The next thing I know I’m in the back of a limo, with Jim promising me that all of my questions would be answered soon. Anytime I asked them a question, the answer was soon.

We stopped at a couple of places, but in the end it was just the three of us getting on Daddy’s jet. Even then they wouldn’t tell me where we were going, but that it would be a few hours and probably just to get some sleep. I didn’t think I could sleep, but in the end, when it was obvious that I wasn’t going to get anything out of either one of them, I decided we were going to Las Vegas and went to sleep.

Luckily for Jim and Trixie, I didn’t wake up until we were landing in Paris. I couldn’t believe it. There was a limo waiting for us and the next thing I know we’re pulling up to the resort and there’s a huge sign wishing me happy birthday.

All the Bobwhites were there—and had been there a least a day, some a few days. There was a huge party in the ballroom of the resort, and everyone wore party clothes, there was a champagne fountain, honestly it’s like something you’d read about in People magazine, or see on lifestyles of the rich and famous. The thing is, Mummy and Daddy, they never flouted their money like that, but they did splurge in a big way for my twenty-first birthday. All of us spent at least three days there together. We had all sorts of excursions planned, spa treatments, shopping, it was amazing. Jim, Trixie and I stayed for a week and the best part was, because the legal drinking age in France is only eighteen, even Diana was able to share champagne toasts and all the rest of the celebration.

There are plenty of pictures as you can imagine, but I’m pretty sure you knew about my celebration, even if you weren’t invited. It was all any of us talked about for a month!

Back to the Lynch rec room

“Okay, that is the least boring story for sure,” Bobby grinned. “But Larry, Terry and I didn’t have any champagne!”

“Of course not,” Honey smiled. “But from what I remember there were some things you three did that the rest of us didn’t.”

“Are you kidding? It’s probably still the best vacation of my life. While you guys were spa-ing, or whatever you call that, we were touring the catacombs and going to Disneyland Paris. Oh, and then we had that bike tour of Paris, it was the best week ever. But I have this feeling that I’m not going to get a surprise party in Paris. In fact, I don’t think I’ll even get a surprise party. I’ve had one once, and it’s fun, but this is different.”

“It is,” Honey acknowledged. “But it was the best birthday present my parents ever gave me, except for when they bought Manor House and we moved to Sleepyside.”

“It was fun,” Trixie grinned. “And I don’t know if we told you, but Jim and I only pretended to be asleep on the plane, so that you would fall asleep. Jim didn’t think we should give you knock-out drops and –”

“I should say not!” Brian interrupted. “That could’ve endangered Honey’s health, not to mention—”

“Joke, brother,” Trixie interrupted. “It’s a joke, we never even considered it.”

“No kidding,” Jim muttered. He knew Trixie accused him of being honorable all over the place, but even though Honey and Brian had not ended up together, Brian was still very protective of Jim’s sister. A little too protective, Jim thought. Maybe … His musings were interrupted by Diana.

“I’m the youngest, and while I don’t think you’ve saved the best for last, I will say that I had a lovely birthday party with my family and some of the Bobwhites a couple of days after my birthday. But my friends made sure I had the so-called traditional bar party. It was fun because I actually won a bet with the owner of the bar!”

“A bet?” Mart asked. He knew he’d never heard this story before. “Let’s hear it!”

“You bet!” Di winked and started back to tell her story.

Diana

First, I would’ve been satisfied with counting Honey’s birthday celebration for my own. It was the best trip ever, and it felt like we celebrated all of our birthdays during that week in Paris. I guess us girls are closer in age than the guys, and that made it seem like we were celebrating for all of us. Of course, Honey and her parents are so generous and gracious they made us feel that way.

But I still loved my birthday parties. Like I said, I had one with my family and even Uncle Monty came from Arizona that weekend, but the actual birthday I celebrated on my own, even though Mummy, Daddy and all the twinnies called me. Even all the Bobwhites called me that day.

It was summer and I was working in the city at one of those freebie jobs that you get because of who your parents know. It was really just a gopher job, but I guess being a gopher in your field is better than working outside your field. Because of the rather Bohemian nature of my job, there was never going to be a worry about working the next day because they never worked on Friday. We worked four ten-hour days, so instead because it was my birthday, they let us all quit working a little early that Thursday night. I’d rather thought we’d all go to some trendy Manhattan club, but like I said, my colleagues were free spirits and that would be much to stuffy for them. Instead everyone insisted that we go to this this place over in Brooklyn that offers birthday deals to people who are turning 21. The birthday deal is 21 pitchers for $21.

I was doubtful at first, thinking that it was 21 pints or mugs, or pitchers the size of a mug, but when we got there I found out that was the real deal. They served the beer in these colorful plastic pitchers and at the end of the night, you get to keep the pitchers as your birthday present.

There was quite the crowd, like Jim’s experience, everyone invited their friends and partners along, so we had a good turnout. Anyone can actually buy the 21 pitchers for $21, but only the birthday people get the beer served in the plastic pitchers and get to keep them. Although honestly, what do you do with 21 pitchers? It seems kind of silly looking back on it, but at the time we all thought it was the best deal ever!

Since there were so many of us, another person ordered the 21 pitchers and those get brought out in regular glass pitchers. It all sounds simple, like a lot of fun and lots of cheap beer, right? Well it’s not, because the glass pitchers were bigger than the plastic pitchers and my friends and I were getting shorted beer. The wait staff insisted they were the same size, but it was obvious they weren’t at all. I wanted to have them bring our beer out in the glass pitchers, because like I said, what was I going to do with 21 plastic pitchers? Finally, I made enough of a stink, that the manger came over and swore to me that the pitchers were the same size. We made a bet right there in front of everyone. If he was right, he’d get a $100 tip to share with the wait staff. If I was right, he offered me a month’s worth of free beer. He made a big production out of it, and had the bartender fill up a glass pitcher with beer and once he handed it over, he started to pour the beer from the glass pitcher into the plastic pitcher to prove they were the same side.

The next thing you know, beer is going everywhere all over the bar and the floor because of course it overflowed because the glass pitchers were bigger! You’d have thought my friends and I had won the mega-million lottery, the way we all acted. But in the manager’s defense, he kept his part of the bet and gave me a voucher for free beer for a month. It truly was a lot of fun and the rest of the night, they brought out our pitchers in glass pitchers and the manager gave me a shopping bag full of the plastic pitchers. We all had a good time and there was really only one sad thing about the entire night. As it turns out – I hate beer.

Back to the present …

The group laughed along with Diana as she finished her tale and the unexpected birthday gift of a year’s supply of free beer.

“What did you end up doing with all those plastic pitchers?” Bobby asked.

“I think she gave us all one for Christmas that year,” Dan’s brow knit as he recalled a dark smoky gray plastic pitcher that still sat in his cabinet.

“Yeah, she did, they were filled with fudge,” Mart said as he called his navy toned version.

Diana shrugged. "It was just a good way to share the celebration since you guys couldn't be there. But even after I gave all of you one, as well as other people, I still have a few of them I bring out to use from time to time. Twenty plus pitchers go a long way, although they are quite handy, not to mention the good memories they bring on anytime I use one of them.”

“That actually sounds pretty fun,” Bobby admitted. “Although Brooklyn is a little too far for my friends to go for a birthday party.”

“To be honest with you, Bobby,” Honey weighed in thoughtfully. “I don’t think it will matter much where you celebrate or what you do. As you can tell from our stories, the most important part of the celebration is being around the people you like, being with friends or family and celebrating. It doesn’t even have to be on the day of your birthday.”

“Honey’s right,” Jim added. “My real birthday was celebrated later when I was with the Bobwhites and we had a back-to-school cookout at the lake. That’s what I really think of as the day. Also, because Brian and I were both 21 at the time, there was beer for that.”

“You’ll have fun no matter what you do,” Trixie agreed. “But remember, we expect to hear what happens.”

“And if there are videos, we expect to see them,” Dan added giving a dark look at Mart who somehow managed to look innocent.

“Yeah, you’ll get to see any video,” Bobby promised as he stood up. “Well, thanks guys, I appreciate the stories. It was fun to hear all the stories. And Honey, your party was awesome, and your parents were awfully generous to have included a thirteen-year-old. I might’ve been only thirteen at the time, but I’ll never forget that vacation. I mean everyone talks about going to Disney, but I’m the only person I know that get to mention that I’ve been to Disneyland too, but oh yeah, in Paris.”

Honey smiled. “Disney is always fun. Whatever you do for your birthday, I hope you have a good time.”

“Yeah, me too. Thanks again, guys!”

Bobby left and the Bobwhites smiled as they watched him leave.

“What do you think they’ll do?” Mart asked.

Dan shrugged. “He’s actually level-headed. I don’t think it’ll be anything too wild. After all, the school keeps a pretty close watch on those student athletes. They don’t want videos floating around social media.”

“True,” Diana mused. “Still, I’m looking forward to hearing about it.” She clapped her hands and looked around the room. “In the meantime, what did we decide – Movies or Games?”

The argument resumed and Friendsgiving continued for the seven Bobwhites.

Epilogue

“You’re really going to blindfold me?” Bobby asked as his friends showed up at his dorm room.

“Yeah, we’re not saying where we’re taking you for your birthday,” his roommate answered. “We told you it was going to be a surprise.”

“Yeah, but I bet we’re not going to Paris,” Bobby muttered under his breath.

“What’s that?” Moose asked, turning his friend around and waving a hand in front of his face.

“Nothing,” Bobby replied. “Just remembering something a friend told me back last Thanksgiving.” He paused for a moment. “Is this blindfold really necessary?”

“It is,” Thump answered. “Now, we’re going to take you out for a celebration to remember.”

It seemed to Bobby they could’ve easily left the blindfold off until they were out of the dorm. It would’ve saved him a bruised shin at the very least. However, once the shuffle and mumbling and whispers had subsided and he was safely in the backseat of someone’s vehicle, he sat quietly and just listened, hoping to learn something.

His friends, however, were good. They all seemed to be texting each other by phone, not even talking in the car. He surmised this from the various dings that seemed to keep happening and at least one of them had his sound on that you could hear the clicks as he entered back answers to text.

“Coach told me earlier this week not to let this get out of hand,” Bobby finally spoke.

“Season’s over,” Kevin reminded him. “But no worries, hell we invited Coach but he politely declined.”

“Hmmm,” Bobby answered as both Moose and Thump shushed Kevin over the piece of information he had just let slip.

Bobby was thinking of a party that his teammates would be willing to invite their coach or even part of the coaching staff, and came up deciding they were probably driving to Atlantic City. It was still early enough that they would be able to make the trip from Syracuse and arrive in time to celebrate. After all, it wasn’t as if Atlantic City would close. Like Vegas, they could party all night. Still, it seemed enough of a drive to make him think they would be going for something else.

After about the tenth turn, Bobby decided they were likely driving around simply to confuse him. In fact, he wouldn’t have been surprised to have ended up back at the athletic dorm. That would be the sort of thing Trixie would do, to throw people off. The chimes and clicking resumed and in what Bobby estimated as ten minutes Moose finally spoke.

“We need to take it off, we want him to see the sign.”

“No, we agreed to wait,” Kevin protested. “He can see if when we leave.”

“You’re assuming he’ll be able to see when we leave,” Thump pointed out.

“It’s a chance we’re going to take,” Kevin said firmly.

The vehicle didn’t park and instead pulled to a stop. As his friends helped him out, the made certain the blindfold remained in place and with Kevin and Thump on each side of him, they carefully led him inside.

A female voice greeted them. “Welcome to –” they both interrupted her before she could let it slip.

“Oh! This must be the birthday party group,” she recognized the reservation. “This way.”

Once again, they pulled him along, and he listened carefully. Not sure what he was hearing but he thought it sounded vaguely like a bowling alley. Were they going bowling?

A few moments later, they were shown into a room that was strangely quiet. Bobby strained to hear something, but he was certain the room was dark. Even with the blindfold, he could tell when light was present and when it wasn’t.

“Ready?” Moose asked.

“Yeah, let’s take it off,” Thump replied.

The blindfold came off and Bobby blinked. He’d been right, they were standing in a room with no lights, and obviously no windows. It was only a matter of seconds, before the light was turned on and the room was full of friends and teammates all yelling surprise. A large sign told him where they were, although the décor of the room would’ve told him as well.

Happy Birthday Bobby Belden!

Dave and Buster’s welcomes all to the sixth birthday party for Bobby Belden.

He blinked and looked again.

“Sixth birthday?” he finally managed. “What do you mean sixth birthday? I’m twenty-one today.”

“Yeah, we know,” Thump answered with a grin. “But when we called your sister to ask her what you’d like best she said to treat it like you would a birthday party for a six-year-old. What better place than Dave and Buster’s!”

“You can drink like you’re 21, but party and play like your six!” Kevin put in. “Not to mention, your friends who aren’t 21 yet can be here as well. Here’s your bracelet.”

A cute waitress placed a neon lime green tag around his wrist. “This is for the birthday boy,” she smiled. “You’ll get all the tokens and drinks you like thanks to your friends. Also, there’s a buffet in the back and it’s included. We do have some excellent pizza back there.”

It was perfect, Bobby thought with a grin. It had the food, the drinks, his friends, and plenty of games. His friends had done well, and unlike the guy Trixie had mentioned her story, he was surrounded by friends that cared about his birthday.

“You ready to party like it’s 1999?” Moose asked him.

“You mean like it’s 2099?” Kevin interjected.

“Neither,” Bobby answered with a grin. “I’m going to party like it’s 2021!”

They laughed and pulled off in the direction of an air hockey machine where teams were currently being declared.

He looked around and nodded, Trixie did understand him best, he decided. It wasn’t the perfect birthday at all.

It was perfectly perfect.