Happy Birthday Jesse!
Summary: A story about Jesse's fourth Birthday, before he moved back to Scottland, CT for eleven years. Wrote this in honor of today being Jesse Barrow Stories Birthday, hope you enjoy! Story is told from Jesse's POV.
Disclaimer: I do not own the original Rugrats or Bobby's World characters, they're the property of their original creaters. I own Zack and his Aunty Celeste, while Peter is owned by TCKing12, Jesse and his family are owned by Jesse Barrow Stories, Hazel is owned by HazelNutSwirl, and Rosie and her family are owned by Nairobi-harper.
Start of Story
Jesse POV
It was the morning of my fourth Birthday. It was summer vacation, and I had been out of preschool for roughly two weeks now. I was really excited about my party, because all of my friends would be coming. Zack, Peter, Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, Kimi and Dil, and sadly, mommy and daddy made me invite Susie and Angelica, because we did play with them too. I was fine with inviting Susie, it's Angelica I didn't really want to invite, but mommy told me that if I didn't invite Angelica, then I couldn't have my party, so I reluctantly went along with it, and prayed that she wouldn't do anything to ruin my party. I awoke early that morning, as the sun came up, jumping up and down outside of my parents bedroom, excited that it was finally my birthday.
"Yay! Today is my Birthday! Get up, get up everybody." I cried.
My mommy and daddy yawned and stretched, walking out of the room, rubbing their eyes.
"Morning son." My daddy said, as he patted me on the head.
"Happy Birthday sweetheart." Said my mommy, as she bent down and gave me a hug. I smiled and hugged her back.
After that, the three of us headed downstairs for breakfast, where I had a big bowl of my favorite cerial, Reptar Cerial! While we were eating breakfast, my daddy, gave me and my mommy some news that I wasn't too happy about hearing.
"Well family, this birthday will be the last one of Jesse's that we'll be having in California." Said my daddy, as he took another sip of his coffee.
"Did you get the job in Connecticut?" My mommy asked.
"Yes, and they want me to start next week." Said my daddy.
"That's wonderful darling, congratulations! Isn't that wonderful Jesse?" My mommy asked me.
I just frowned, and started crying.
"No it's not cuz I won't get to play with my friends anymore." I said through my sobs.
"Oh, don't you worry sweetie, you're gonna get to have lots of fun with your friends at your birthday party this afternoon, and we're gonna make it a combined, birthday and saying goodbye party, how does that sound?" My mommy asked me.
I sniffled back some tears and looked up at my mommy before replying.
"I guess that's ok." I said, as I slowly finished up my bowl of Reptar Cerial and drank the rest of my orange juice.
After breakfast, while my mommy and daddy were getting everything set up for my party, since it was Saturday morning, as we learned our days of the week this past year in preschool, I went and watched all of my favorite Saturday morning cartoons. I liked them all except I got to where Goober wasn't nearly as enjoyable to me anymore. Luckily, it came on very early in the morning now, before I started my day. Oh yeah, and sorry, but I find Miss Stephanie's Happy House, Cynthia P.I. and Shirly Lock Homes, are just, too girlie or young for my taste. At least they aired on a different channel from the one I tune to on Saturday mornings, and I watched the rest of the awesome shows on TV. Adventure Squad, Reptar, Space Deck Babies, Super Why, The Mega Hyper Heros, Captain Blasto, and rounding it all out, a brand new episode of Captain Squash. As Captain Squash was ending, I got a phone call, and a very long distance phone call at that! It was my friend, Bobby Generic, who had moved all the way to a far away country called Norway about a month after I started preschool. I ran into the kitchen where my mommy was with the phone to take it from her.
"Hi Bobby." I said into the phone.
"Hey Jesse, Happy Birthday!" Said Bobby.
"Thank you! So, how are things in Norway?" I asked.
"Great! I start second grade next week!" Said Bobby excitedly.
"Next week? Don't you guys have summer vacation over there?" I asked, a bit confused and puzzled.
"No, we go to school all year round here, but they give us three weeks off every few months, so we still get vacations, just, a bit more split up, and we just finished the one that occurs before we change grades, and next week, at the start of July, I'll be going into the second grade! I can't wait!" Said Bobby excitedly.
"Well I'm glad you're looking forward to it, I'd hate to have to go to school all summer." I said.
"As long as they don't start having school on Saturdays, that's good enough for me, though now, because of living in a foreign country, I have to watch Captain Squash on Netflicks, but I don't mind, because I get to see the new episodes before everybody else does in the U.S." Said Bobby.
"Cool!" I said.
"Well, I'd better get off of the phone before my mom and dad have a fit because I made a long distance call to America." Said Bobby.
"Ok, don't need you to get in trouble. Thanks for calling, and I'll talk to you later." I said.
"Bye Jesse." Said Bobby, as I heard a click on the phone.
I hung up the phone and went outside to see the backyard was all decorated for my party, with colorful balloons, and the bouncy castle my parents had ordered for my party had arrived. I then had some leftover pepperoni pizza from last night's dinner for lunch, and before I knew it, people started arriving for my party! The first people to arrive were my friend Zack and his aunt Celeste.
"Hi Zack." I said, upon him walking into the entry hallway, carrying his present for me, a large box wrapped in blue and red paper.
"Happy Birthday Jesse." Said Zack, as he handed me my package, and I went and put it in the corner of the living room that my mommy and I set aside for all of my presents.
"Thank you." I said, as I led Zack into the backyard, and we played on my teeter-totter until the next guest arrived. The next people to arrive were Lucy, with her daughter Susie and they brought Angelica to the party, since as usual, her parents were working.
"Hi Jesse, Happy Birthday." Said Susie excitedly, as I took a box wrapped in shiny purple paper from her hand, and placed it in the stack of presents.
"Thank you." I said.
"Oh, Happy Birthday Jesse." Said Angelica.
"Thank you." I said, as I took a small box wrapped in white paper from Angelica, and stuck it in the stack.
I led the girls out into the backyard, while Susie's mom, Zack's aunt, and my mommy sat around the kitchen table, talking to one another, and showed them my swing set. Angelica and Susie didn't hesitate, they got on the swings and started having a contest to see who could swing higher. Uninterested in watching their competition, I went back to Zack, who was now checking out my bicycle.
"Your bike is cool!" Said Zack.
"Thanks! It's red and shiny, I got it for Christmas, and, I can ride it, really well!" I said, as I got on the bike and road it around the backyard. No sooner had I come back around to where Zack was watching me from, when more guests arrived. I went inside to be greeted by Kira, along with Chuckie, Kimi, Phil, and Lil.
"Happy Birthday Jesse." All of them said together, as several wrapped packages were handed to me, and I went and put them with the other presents.
"Thank you." I said.
"Hi Laura, I brought Phil and Lil with me, Chuckie and Kimi to the party, so Betty and Chaz could continue working at the Java Lava." Said Kira, as she sat down at the table with Lucy, Celeste, and my mommy. I led Phil, Lil, Chuckie and Kimi out to the backyard.
"Oooh wow! A Bouncy castle!" Said Kimi.
"Neat!" Said Lil.
"Can we play with it now?" Phil asked.
"Guys, guys, Tommy and Dil aren't here yet." Said Chuckie.
"Chuckie's right you guys, my mommy and daddy said we couldn't play with any of the stuff for my birthday party until all of the guests had arrived." I said.
"Oh, ok." Phil said with a sigh.
"But we can play with my cars and trucks until they arrive, or draw on the sidewalk with chalk." I suggested.
"That's a great idea!" Said Lil, as she found the blue bucket of chalk that we left out on the table on the patio, handed out pieces of chalk, and we got started drawing on the sidewalk.
I drew a really good picture of Reptar with some green chalk, and was so engrossed in drawing, that I didn't hear my mommy calling me inside to greet the final guest to arrive at my party.
"Jesse! Come inside, now!" Called my mommy from the backdoor, for what must have felt like the bazillionth time, as she was a bit annoyed that I hadn't heard her the first few times she called me inside.
"I'm coming." I called, as I got up from where I was drawing on the sidewalk, and went inside, to where I found Peter and Dil.
"Happy Birthday Jesse. The package wrapped in blue paper is from Tommy, and the package wrapped in green paper is from me." Said Dil, as he handed me two packages, and I stuck them in the stack.
"And this one, is from me." Said Peter, as he handed me a huge package wrapped in shiny red paper.
"Thank you." I said, putting Peter's package on the stack of presents.
"So where's Tommy?" I asked, as Peter, Dil, and I made our way out to the backyard, where my parents and the other moms and Zack's aunt were sitting around the table.
"Sorry Dil and I are late, we were just at the doctor's office, getting Dil vaccinated against Smallpox." Said Peter, as he took a seat at the table with the other adults.
"Oh wow, I didn't think Smallpox was going around anymore." Said Celeste.
"Well, apparently, there's been an outbreak of the virus, as that's why Tommy isn't here today. He awoke this morning with a very high fever, so Didi took him to the doctors, and turns out he's come down with a case of Smallpox." Said Peter.
"Is it contagious?" Kira asked.
"It is, and it's very often passed via saliva, sharing clothes, and bed sheets. It takes up to twelve days for symptoms to appear, so if I were you, I'd get your kids vaccinated as soon as possible, as I know for all of us, we're around Tommy fairly regularly, the sooner your kids get vaccinated against the disease, the less severe the symptoms are liable to be." Explained Peter.
"Thank you, I'll make note to get Zack vaccinated." Said Celeste.
"I can take care of Susie's, and I'll let Drew and Charlotte know that they should look into getting Angelica vaccinated." Said Lucy.
"And I'll tell Betty so she can see to getting Phil and Lil vaccinated." Said Kira.
I wasn't sure what Smallpox was, but it had to be really bad if Tommy couldn't come to my party.
"Hey, do any of you guys know what Smallpox is?" I asked my other friends, who had stopped making chalk drawings on the sidewalk at this point.
That's when Angelica came over to explain it to us.
"You preschoolers are so dumb, you're lucky I'm about to go into first grade and know everything. Smallpox is this really horrible disease, where you shrink down to the size of a crumb, till you blend in with the carpet! Hince the name, smallpox, when you get really really small." Explained Angelica.
"Oh no! So my brother is going to get really tiny, making me his big brother?" Dil asked.
"Not just his big brother, but his giant brother. Yep, Tommy's gonna grow so small, he'd be tinier than one piece of Reptar cerial! And you'd better be careful you don't step on him, and crush him." Said Angelica.
"That's not true Angelica." Said Susie.
"Oh yes it is Carmichael, ever heard of this kid named Jason? He got such a bad case of Smallpox, that one day while going to use the bathroom, he shrunk while on the toilet, causing him to fall in, and get flushed down the drain, and now, he must swim with the fishes!" Said Angelica.
"That's not true Angelica, kids, Susie is correct, Smallpox does not make you get smaller until you're the size of a crumb." Said Peter, as he came over to us and took a seat in the grass, where we were all gathered together in a circle, talking about this whole, Smallpox thing.
"Well what is it then?" I asked.
"Smallpox is a virus, that gives you symptoms like a high fever, painful headache, diarrhea, vomiting, and probably the most noticeable symptom is this rash that breaks out all over your body in little pink spots, and the virus remains contagious and bad, until the bumps scab over and flake off." Explained Peter.
"Oh wow, that doesn't sound so good." Said Chuckie.
"I wouldn't worry Chuckie, I'm sure Tommy will be feeling better in no time!" Said Kimi with a smile.
"Well, I know Tommy didn't feel too good this morning, and he felt just awful that he couldn't make it to your birthday party Jesse." Said Peter.
"Well, tell Tommy I hope he feels better soon." I said.
"I'll be sure to let him know. Lucky for me, I was vaccinated against the Smallpox disease back when I fought for the Confederacy's independence, so I can't catch it." Said Peter.
"Will I have to get vaccinated?" I asked.
"Yes, and I've already talked to your parents about this, they're going to see that this gets done." Said Peter.
"How long will Tommy be sick?" Lil asked.
"That's hard to say Lil, but the rash can last up to ten days, so there's a good chance we probably won't see much of Tommy for the next two weeks. Too bad, the poor guy is sick on his summer vacation, and what's even more freaky is, Rosie's mom called me today, she's sick with Smallpox too." Said Peter.
We all gasp at the sound of this news.
"Really?" Zack asked.
"Yes, really. She was sleeping over at Hazel's last night, when she got a bad headache and was running a high fever, so Hazel's parents had to take her to the emergency room, and it was confirmed that she too, has Smallpox." Said Peter.
"Oh my gosh, I hope Hazel doesn't get sick with it." Said Phil.
"I wouldn't worry Phil, I believe Hazel's parents were going to get her vaccinated, now that she's for sure, been exposed to the disease, since she was there when Rosie started developing symptoms." Said Peter.
"Well at least the two love bugs can keep each other company via that Facetime thing you guys do on your phone." Said Kimi.
"True, though it's no fun to be sick, and I hear Smallpox can be pretty awful. Luckily, from my understanding of what Didi and Shannon told me, Rosie and Tommy's cases of the virus are Variola Minor. That means, they may get pretty sick, but they'll eventually, get over the disease, unlike the majority of the more severe ccases of this virus called Variola Major, which most people die from." Said Peter.
"I hope Tommy's going to be ok." Said Chuckie worriedly.
"He's gonna be ok Chuckie, I wouldn't worry." Said Peter, putting a gentle hand on Chuckie's shoulder.
"What about telling Tommy goodbye?" I asked.
"Goodbye?" Peter asked.
"Yeah, didn't my mommy tell you? My daddy got a new job, and next week, we're moving back to Connecticut, where I use to live a good two years ago." I said.
"Well, we'll just have to see how he's doing. Maybe if you get vaccinated against the disease, you can stop by to tell Tommy goodbye anyway, before your family hits the road." Suggested Peter.
"Ok kids, are you ready to have some Birthday fun?" My mommy asked, standing before us.
I wasn't sure if I was all that up to having any fun, knowing that poor Tommy had to miss my party, being sick in bed with Smallpox, but knowing Tommy, he wouldn't want me to have a miserable time at my party. He'd want me to be having fun and not worry about him, so that's, what I decided to do.
"Yeah!" I called out excitedly, as all of my other friends got up and called out excitedly right along with me, and we ran up to the porch, where we played several party games.
First, we played pin the tail on Reptar, which I won, with Zack coming in second place, and Susie, coming in third place. This didn't make Angelica happy, but we all told her to put a sock in it, we weren't much up for her griping and complaining. Personally, I wished she hadn't come to my party at all, but since it would have been rude of me to not invite her, I bit my lip and tried my best, to just, ignore her snobby comments. Then, we played for a while in the bouncy castle, and that was loads of fun! Then, we went on a scavender hunt around the backyard, where we found several things, from marbles, to Reptar bars, and I even found a Captain Squash keychain! Then, after that, we all had birthday cake, the cake I requested, a yellow cake with blue icing. Mommy had us all sit around the kitchen table inside, and then, my daddy lit the candles on my cake.
"One, two, three, four, and one to grow on." Said my daddy, as he lit each candle on the cake. Once they were all lit, everybody, sang Happy Birthday to me.
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Jesse,
Happy Birthday to you.
Once everybody sang to me, I made my wish and blew out the candles, then, we all dug into the cake, and it was the most delicious Birthday cake ever! I think Dil was the most impressed that I asked for blue icing on my cake, and he was planning to do the same at his next birthday, either having blue or green icing on his cake.
"Wow, glad you and I could find some common ground then." I said.
Dil just nodded and smiled, as he took another bite of his cake.
We also had vanilla ice cream, and anybody who wanted sprinkles on top, could have some. I decided to have mine plain, but I believe Kimi had chocolate sprinkles on her's, or as my mommy calls them, Jimmies, and Zack had some rainbow sprinkles on his. Phil and Lil wanted worms on their ice cream, but my mommy said no worms allowed in the house, so they settled for gummy worms instead.
And then, for a drink with the cake and ice cream, we had Hawaiian punch, which was yummy! After we had our share of cake and ice cream, we went into the living room, where I opened up all of my presents. From Peter, I received a toy firetruck, complete with working lights and a siron. From Phil and Lil, I received an innertube and floaty for the pool. The floaty was green and orange striped, and the inner tube was red with a picture of Reptar on it. Upon opening this gift is when my mommy told me our new house in Connecticut would have a pool in the backyard, which got me a bit more excited about moving, as I'd get to play with these new toys in my own backyard, even if I sadly, didn't get to play with them with Phil and Lil, I could always think of them when I played with the toys.
Chuckie gave me a Captain Squash coloring book and a new package of crayons, while Kimi gave me a book about how to make oragamies, which is the Japanese art of making different shapes by folding pieces of paper together.. Zack got me a glow in the dark Reptar doll, while Tommy and Dil got me two lego sets. The one from Dil was a spaceship, while Tommy got me a pirate ship. So they both got me ships, but two different kind. I couldn't wait until Tommy was all better for us to play with my new lego pirate ship together, then I remembered, I was moving away. Oh well, maybe I could build it with the legos and send him a picture. I bet he'd like that.
Susie got me a plush doll of Jelly Bear from the Dummi Bears, and Angelica got me a gift certificate to the Toy Palace. I told everybody thank you for the presents and thank you for coming, as once all of the presents were opened, it was time for everybody to head home, so I handed out the goody bags, and saw them off, and my mommy agreed to let me have some playdates with all of my friends this next upcoming week before we had to move. She also told me later that we'd go spend my gift certificate at Toy Palace before we left town, since there's sadly, no Toy Palace in Scottland, Connecticut. Of course, I have a feeling that it was Angelica's parents who really got me that gift certificate, as there's a pretty good chance, that had it been up to Angelica, she wouldn't have gotten me a present at all. So deep down, I didn't really care if I used that gift certificate or not, but I'd use it, and get myself something I didn't get, or maybe, I'd spend it on a get well present for Tommy. Yeah, that's what I would do, I'd spend it on a get well present for Tommy, what that would be, I didn't know just yet, but I'm sure I'd think of something when we went to the toy store later on that week.
On the evening of my birthday, mommy and daddy took me out for dinner at my favorite restaurant, Potato Mountain, where I ordered my favorite thing to get there, chicken strips with barbecue sauce and curly fries. Then, I got a surprise dessert of a huge piece of chocolate cake, and all of the waiters and waitresses came around, and sang their own little Birthday song and dance to me. It was loads of fun! After we finished dinner, we headed home, where mommy and daddy gave me their present, the one thing I really wanted for my birthday, the Adventure Squad video game for the Wii. I was so excited, and couldn't wait to play it, that sinceit was my birthday, they let me stay up past my bedtime, and play the game on the big screen TV in the living room.
I had so much fun playing the video game, that I didn't want to stop, but mommy and daddy agreed to have that be one of the last things the movers pack up, so I'd have that to play with, to keep me occupied when I wasn't off at playdates with my friends over this next week. Sad to see my birthday end, I finally went to bed, and while I wasn't looking forward to moving at the end of the week, I at least had a really fun birthday, even if Tommy couldn't attend, as he had been looking forward to my party, only to get sick at the last minute, I only hoped he'd be feeling better soon, and as for the move thing, I'd do my best to enjoy my final week in California with my friends, and worry about the hardships of moving, when the time came to do so.
End of Jesse POV
The End
Author's Note: Well, I hope you all enjoyed that story, and to Jesse Barrow Stories, Happy Birthday! And oh yes, not sure when we plan to release them, but at some point down the road, I'm going to be writing a story about Rosie's experience with Smallpox, and Nairobi-harper, is going to be writing one about Tommy's experience with Smallpox, and yes, even in our stories, they both, have them, at the same time. And the facts presented by Peter about Smallpox, are true, thanks to some research I've already started doing, before I wrote up this little one-shot, in honor of it being Jesse Barrow Stories birthday today. Well, you all take care, and, be looking for more stories, coming soon!