Author's Note: I do not own King of the Hill. Only this story.

Hank yawned as he stretched out his arms in bed. He turned over and looked at his alarm clock. 7:23, it read. "Morning all ready?" Hank said as he sat up and began getting dressed. He put on his usual Stricklen Propane uniform, slipped on a pair of jeans and began tying his shoes. Hank let out yet another loud yawn and went to the kitchen to make some coffee.

He didn't notice that Peggy wasn't in bed with him.

For about ten minutes, Hank sat at the breakfast table, taking a sip of his coffee and a bite of his french toast as he read the newspaper. The house was oddly quiet — there was no sign of Peggy, Luane, Bobby or even the pets. Hank didn't mind though. Today was the anniversary of Stricklen Propane. He needed some peace of quiet, he was going to have a big day. Then after a while, he finished up his breakfast and got in the truck. It took a while for the truck to start up — for some reason it wasn't working properly. Hank got slightly annoyed at this, he needed to get to work quick so he could meet Buck there.

The truck slowly but definitely started up — and Hank road off north. As Hank drove through the neighborhood, not one house or yard had any sign of civilization. Hank suddenly felt like something was wrong. But it was too late to stop now — he was already half-way to Stricklen Propane. Hank kept reluctantly driving, and then suddenly the truck just stopped. Hank banged on the interior for quite a while. For some reason, it didn't want to work properly. "Come on, stupid machine!" Hank uncharacteristically insulted his truck as he gave a firm whip on the ceiling. Then, just like magic, the truck suddenly started up again — and Hank began driving to Stricklen. At this point, Hank knew something was going on — he started to feel dread shudder down his spine. Then, he came to a hault. He was now at Stricklen Propane. Beside Hank's car, he saw Buck's — but then he saw something odd. Peggy's car was parked next to Buck Stricklen's, too. Hank didn't pay too much attention to it, though, he just thought it might have been someone else's car that looked alike Peggy's.

Anyway, Hank parked in the parking lot and went inside. Hank stopped. None of the lights were on — it was as dark as night in the room — so Hank thought that it'd be a nice jester to turn on the lights, so he reached for the lightswitch when suddenly —

"SURPRISE!"

The lights automatically flicked on — and Hank saw a huge banner was hung up on the wall, reading "HAPPY 41TH BIRTHDAY HANK!" and below it was all of his friends: Bill, Dale, Boomhauer, Buck Stricklen, Con (who looked slightly disgruntled), Men (who looked disgruntled also), Connie Jr., and his family, Luane, Peggy, Bobby and Ladybird. Hank suddenly felt a warm grin flicker upon his face. "It's my birthday?" Hank said disbelievingly. "How come nobody told me?"

"We thought it'd be a nice surprise if we wait at the last minute," Con said, still looking disgruntled. Hank couldn't help but give a warm, satisfied laugh. Then, Hank's eyes darted to the birthday cake in Bill's greasy hands. It read, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HANK!" in Comic Sans fonts and blue icing. Hank looked all around the room. The atmosphere in the room seemed to be warm and welcoming; for the first time Hank felt like partying — which he hadn't done since he graduated high-school.

When suddenly Bill smashed a pie in Hank's face.