Will's Birthday Part 1
Thursday Aug 5th @ 3:30 PM - Cheyenne Memorial Hospital
"Happy Birthday Will!!!" Mrs. Sommers said with a smile as she watched the face of her middle child. "You don't think I could have forgotten, do you?" "Ah, mom." he responds. Then seeing the presents at her side, "You didn't have to get me anything." "Now Will it's your birthday. You're now seventeen. ... I know that we don't usually celebrate in the hospital, but we still have to celebrate." Jenny, Ted, Gary and Bart all chime in, "Yeah, Will." "Happy Birthday Again." "Keeerist, Will you're almost a man now." "Happy Birthday!"
Will was beaming. Up until now, Bart was the only one who had said 'happy birthday' to him. He just figured with so much else on everyone else's minds they had just forgot. He got hugs and kisses from everyone. Then Ted walked out, saying he'd be right back. A minute or two later, Ted walks in with a grocery bag. From the top, he pulls out a miniature birthday cake with candles and "H. B. 17 - Will" in icing on the top. Will's mom said, "The candles are real, can't light them up in the hospital though, so we'll pretend." Gary pulled the drapes, and everybody pulled out a flash light they all turned on and aimed toward the cake. Then she started everyone in a chorus of Happy Birthday.
The tears built up in his eyes. His voice was quavering, when he sang back, "I thank you I do, I thank you I do..." His voice finally cracked and all he could do was smile. Will mumbled, "Thanks ... everybody." Jenny said, "Come on lets open your presents. I want to see what everyone got you."
"Okay, already." Will took the present from his mom. he ripped open the wrapping, and found a new fishing rod that he was told they couldn't afford. Ted and Gary followed with a card. In the card, was a picture of an old computer. But the card read,
"This Gift Certificate is Redeemable
for one used computer that will be delivered to
Your Place of Residence within 30 days."
Ted on one side and Gary on the
other, hugged him between them.
Ted said, "Sandi just bought a new computer for the store, so we bought the old one
for you. Join the nineties, little brother. Gary will bring it back when he comes back
from KC next time." "Oh WOW. You guys shouldn't have." Gary interjected,
"Don't get too carried away yet. It's a year an a half old, doesn't come with a
printer, but you should be able to use it for what you need. It would be great for surfing
the web. Sandi put in a 57K modem a couple months ago, and expanded the memory to
96K."
Jenny, who has obviously waiting impatiently, says, "My turn. ... here open it." and she hands him what looks like it is probably a video tape. It was a tape of "Interview with the Vampire", one of his favorite movies. "Thanks, Jenny!" Knowing that she liked the movie almost as much as he did, "Maybe we can watch it later."
Bart hands him a gift wrapped package with a ribbon on it, a little embarrassed he says, "My mom wrapped this for me, but this is the first part of your gift." Will rips off the wrapping, and opens the box, there are three T-shirts in it. Bart urges him on, "See what they say. I made them myself." Will pulled them out one at a time and displayed them for all to see. The first on a light blue, showed a picture of a fish, that Will had caught last summer, with the words "I'd Rather Be Fishing under it. The next was plain white with the words in a dark red that said,
"Make your own
kind of Music ..."
Before Will can show the last, Bart says, "You might want to wait on that one." But after he reads, Will smiles and says, "I think it's great!" and he shows everyone the shirt which shows a movie logo that Bart added to.
Bart's
Beautiful Thing
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back to "stray e-mail, part two"