Chapter 1: The Birthday Party
"Location: Modesto, California, June 29th 2035"
It was a warm Friday morning in Modesto. The baseball season had just concluded, and Adam's baseball team, the Modesto Strikers, had just defeated their rivals, the Yucaipa Renegades, in the final game of the season, on the afternoon of Adam's 12th birthday. In this game, Adam played the position of fielder, and since they couldn't get nine batters for the game due to various reasons, Cassi and Darin volunteered to play in place of the team's usual players. Upon defeating the Yucaipa Renegades, the crowds were on their feet, cheering for the Yucaipa Renegades. In the crowds, Peter, Kimi, Abigail, George, Tommy, Lil, Chuckie, Nicole, Charles, Rachel, Phil, Wally, Benjamin, Megan, Angelica, Harold, Camden, Susie, Stephen, Bob, Dil, Wendy, Emily, Zack, Regina, Jesse, and Tiffany cheered.
"Way to go, son!" Tommy shouted, smiling from up top a set of bleacher as the Modesto Strikers stood in the center of the field, receiving their standing ovation.
"Way to go, sweetheart!" Regina shouted, smiling at Cassi.
"Congratulations, Darin!" Tiffany shouted.
Just then, an announcer congratulated the members of the Modesto Strikers. The crowd applauded, and the players separated and walked back to their family members. Adam, Cassi, and Darin went back to their families and friends. Upon approaching the group, Lil hugged Adam, Regina hugged Cassi, and Tiffany hugged Darin.
"Oh, I'm so proud of you." Lil told Adam.
Adam smiled.
"Thanks, mom." Adam said.
Tommy smiled.
"Alright, let's go celebrate." Tommy said.
The other Rugrats and their families nodded, and they started walking away. Adam began to follow, but then he spotted a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye. He looked to see his baseball coach, a man named Ezekiel Shay, leaving the baseball field. Adam took a deep breath and walked over to him.
"Coach Shay!" Adam called out.
Ezekiel stopped in his tracks and turned to face the 12 year old boy.
"Yes, Adam?" Ezekiel asked.
"Thank you for the whole baseball season." Adam replied.
Ezekiel smiled gently in return and simply nodded. Tommy and Lil walked over.
"Would you like to come celebrate with us?" Lil asked politely.
"Nah, you go on ahead. Congratulations, Adam." Ezekiel replied softly.
Tommy gave his son a light nudge on his arm as Ezekiel left in the other direction to head home.
Later, back at the Pickles house, the Rugrats, Regina, Tiffany, the Rugrats parents, Celeste, and the Rugrats children were celebrating Adam's team winning the final game of the baseball season, as well as his 12th birthday, with a pool party in the backyard. Eventually, Didi told everyone that it was time for the Birthday cake and presents, and for everyone to get showered and dried off since it would be dark soon. Everyone headed inside, and they took turns in the bathroom to shower off and change clothes.
Thirty minutes later, everyone was gathered around the kitchen table. Stu and Didi set down a beautiful yellow cake, layered like a wedding cake, with chocolate icing in front of Adam, with a 1 and a 2 candle lit, along with a blue striped candle to represent one to grow on. Everyone sang the traditional Happy Birthday song to Adam as he prepared to blow out the candles.
"Now, blow out the candles and make a wish." Betty told her maternal grandson encouragingly.
Adam thought to himself what he would wish for. While he wished for an exciting adventure to an unexplored territory, he really wanted a girlfriend. Not many girls seemed to notice him, but lately, he had noticed Abigail acting nervous around him. As he thought of these wishes in his mind, he took a deep breath and blew out the candles on his cake. Everyone cheered him on once all of his candles were blown out, and they ate their cake and ice cream, talking as they did.
An hour later, everyone was gathered in a huge circle in the living room. Adam sat in the middle, so he could open all of his presents. He had gotten several things, from a race car night light, several movies on DVD, astrology pillows, iTunes gift cards, video games, and much more. But Peter had a special surprise for everyone.
"I believe Peter is the last one to give Adam his present." Kimi said.
Kimi stepped to the side as Peter made his way through the crowd to where Adam was sitting. He handed Adam a large brown envelope.
"Happy Birthday, Adam." Peter said as he handed Adam the envelope.
"Thank you, Peter." Adam said.
Adam opened the envelope to find thirty three pieces of paper.
"These are everyone's tickets for the Lipschitz Cruise, which will be setting sail tomorrow for seven days and seven nights. And all of you are invited!" Peter explained.
Everyone clapped and cheered as Peter and Adam went around and handed the tickets to their friends and family.
"We leave tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM, so we'd better get packed and get to bed." Peter said.
Peter gathered Kimi, Abigail, and George, and they headed for the door. Everyone else, except Tommy, Lil, Stu, and Didi, told Adam happy birthday one last time before they also headed for home.
That night, Adam laid in his bed, awake for a while. He was too excited to sleep because he kept thinking about the next day.
"Location: Modesto, California, June 30th 2035"
The next day, the Rugrats, Regina, Tiffany, the Rugrats parents, Celeste, and the Rugrats children woke up early, and they gathered outside the Lipschitz Cruise at the Modesto dockyard. Everyone lined up behind Peter, carrying their suitcases and bags of possessions that they were bringing along on the trip.
"Is everybody ready to go?" Peter asked.
"Yes." everyone replied.
"Then let's go!" Peter said.
The Rugrats, Regina, Tiffany, the Rugrats parents, Celeste, and the Rugrats children nodded, and they and Peter boarded the Lipschitz Cruise.