Birthday
Gregory stared at the decorations hanging around the room from the armchair he was resting in, balloons with twisted grins drawn on them, skulls with little black bows stuck to their tops, and the largest decoration was a large banner with the words "Happy Birthday!" written in a suspicious red liquid.
He then turned to the buffet of food his loyal chef had prepared, he surveyed the many delicious meals that had been laid out from the dark and murky stews to the almost-still-bleeding-they're-so-rare meat entries to the spot right in the center of the table where a several layer cheesecake would soon sit.
They had truly outdone themselves today,it was all so beautiful.
The misshapen creatures that made up his..family were happily chatting amongst themselves, he smiled at the many voices that filled the room, friendly conversations about this and that, a 'happy birthday!' here, a 'you're what a million now?' there, and of course the usual bickering but that just made the atmosphere cozier for the ancient rat
He scanned some of the activities going on throughout the room
Most of the children were playing with the balloons and pitch black streamers, his grandson on the other hand was caught sneaking one too many cookies and was being chastised by the nurse for ruining his appetite before dinner and trying to rot his teeth and all that jazz, the local opera fanatic was whining to the house doctor about the music choice being mainstream hip-hop, an angel-winged canine was preparing another batch of punch and wax behemoth was carrying in a extravagantly decorated cake
Gregory smiled to himself,everyone was here and enjoying themselves!
Well..almost everyone
But he didn't care
He didn't expect her to an appearance anyway
Gregory was 10 years old today. Teacher said that the 10th birthday was one of the most important birthdays you had in your whole entire life! Surely his mama must have planned something!
Gregory swung his tubby legs over their worn-out bed and spoke to no one but himself
"Mama will be home soon! Then we'll eat Cake! And Custard! And Ice Cream! And we can play with my present all night until we fall asleep!"
Gregory hopped up and ran to the dirty window with an excited smile when he saw his mama's car pull into the parking lot
He ran to the door and sat next to it happily while mama unlocked the door and stepped inside,clutching a small department store bag and looking disheveled with loose hairs sticking out of her tight bun
"Good evening Mama! How are you?!"
"Tired..",she groaned,barely noticing her eager pup obediently followed her into the kitchen
She placed the bag on the crumb-covered countertop then started began to brew herself some relaxing tea
Gregory took this opportunity to try and climb on the countertop to peek at what was in the bag
"You'll fall.",he heard his mama say and she stirred her tea
"Mama I can do it I won't-"
Then he slipped and fell onto his back with a thud "Oww.."
Mama sighed,put aside her tea and helped the boy onto his feet
"See what happens when your foolish.",she said giving him a quick whack on the head with the wooden spoon she was holding
"Sorry mama..I was just excited..",he said as he rubbed the sore spot in his scalp
Mama turned back to her tea "I suppose I can't blame you for wanting presents could I,my greedy little kit?", she said with a tired chuckle
Gregory cheered up once he heard that the bag really was his present
"What is it mama!? Is it the train set I wanted!? Or a new book? Did you get cake too?! Is it cheesecake?!", he said pulling at her skirt hem eagerly
Mama set her cup down and sighed "Why don't you open it and find out?",she said as she pulled the bag down to the floor
Gregory happily dug into the paper bag and pulled out a small parcel then ripped off the rough brown wrapping to reveal a hardcover book entitled The ABCs of locomotives
"Wow!",Gregory happily exclaimed as he flipped through the many pages, looking at all the photographs and diagrams of trains and their mechanics
"This is so cool mama!", he squealed hugging her legs
Mama gave a prideful chuckle "I knew you'd like it~"
"Can we read it together?",Gregory said with a hopeful smile that dwindled when he saw the grim look in mama's eyes
"Mama has to go to work soon Gregory.",she said before taking a long sip of her tea
"But... when will we eat ice cream and pudding and-"
"I can't afford to buy you a cake this year.", she nearly slammed her cup down as she spat the words out as to leave no room for questions, "I could barely afford to buy you that book."
Gregory took a step back
"Sorry mama I just thought..sorry...", he quietly walked to their shared bedroom, feeling overwhelmingly guilty for even expecting a cake in the first place
He knew mama was working two jobs and still just barely scraping by this year, just like last year and the year before that, and every year his birthday was another unneeded dent in their funds
He laid the book on the side-table and laid face down in the pillows, tears quietly leaking from his eyes
He was an unneeded dent in their funds
"Come out here little muffintop!~"
'Mama I hiding!"
"All the guests are waiting! Grandma and grandpa want to see their big three year old grandchild~"
The curvy,young woman bent down to look behind the dresser,where her son was curled up
"There you are~",she says scooping him up into a hug
"Mama der too many peoples.."
"I know crowds are scary and loud", the beautiful woman said in her soft, sweet sounding voice
"But everyone here loves you and wants to celebrate with you,me and papa!"
The little boy unconvinced and rubbed his face into his mama's chest 'Too many.."
She thought for a moment "Gregory~"
Her baby's face peeked out a bit "what?"
"Papa's making you CAKE~"
This got him excited and smiled a wide smile at her
"Weally!?"
"Of course!What's a birthday without cake?", she chuckled and carried Gregory to the party,and as she watched him play until bedtime she could only smile, knowing that she would throw him fun birthday parties till they were both old and grey.