Chapter Four

Happy Birthday

Kelly politely waited until they were at the resturant to open her cards. There were five total and she opened them in the order that she always had, for the past few years. She started with her Mom's. It was a typical birthday card from a mom who didn't really pay much attention to her daughter's life. She sighed at the pink bunnies and clouds. You'd think she was in fifth grade again.

The inside typpically held a forgettable, sickly sweet poem and her mom's hasty signiture. Kelly wasn't surprised. Somedays she wondered if her mother was aware she had a daughter and consciously differentiated her from all the other people she knew.

Kelly's relationship with her mother had always been tentative at best. Hellen Curtis had never wanted a child. Kelly was the result of a brief fling and irresponsibility. Hellen was never openly antagonistic to her daughter but she never accepted her as something to be proud of. Kelly was a burden. Kelly always knew it but played her role the way an obedient daughter should.

Kelly didn't hate her mother but she wasn't too fond of her either. Especially when her mother decided to obtain a boyfriend. Or, god forbid, when she decided her daughter needed one.

Kelly was perfectly fine with out a boyfriend. Middle school and high school were terrors. Being smart in your average school wasn't exactly the best thing in the world. Kelly delt with all your typical taunts and then some. All through school she was reported to be having illicit affairs with any number of your above average intellegent boys. And of course when she didn't immediately start dating upon becoming a junior, she was deemed a lesbian and was reportedly in no less than seven relationships across the school.

Kelly ignored it all with her usual stoicism. For a while she had let it get to her. She tried being different, tried fitting in. But then she realized that wasn't what she wanted to be. Wasn't who she wanted to be. She might never have figured it out if it hadn't been for Sarah.

Speaking of whom... Kelly put her mother's insensitive note aside and looked at the rest of the cards. She opened Sarah's next. Sarah Harding was one of the best behavioral scientists in the world. She was Kelly's personal role model. Arby didn't get the fascination, but he never bugged her about it. And she never questioned his weird fetishes. They were good for each other like that.

Kelly and Sarah had met at that fiasco all those years ago. They had stayed in touch for all the subsequent years. Sarah was like the older sister Kelly had never had. They genuinely enjoyed each other's company. Unfortunately as the years past they saw each other less and less. Kelly was now twenty five and Sarah was in her early fourties. Sarah was still doing feild work more than lab work.

Kelly flipped open the card. A picture of Sarah and Ian Malcolm fell out. Sarah and Ian had never actually been a thing. More like the exact opposite. But Sarah kept him from entering a drug stupor and Ian kept her from ever wanting children. They fought often and heatedly.

In the picture, Sarah had her arm around Ian. She was grinning. Ian, dressed in his usual impersonal black was probably dying in the African heat, was not smiling but rather looking like he'd rather be anywhere but in this picture. Sarah's dark hair was starting to show silver lines and there were delicate lines around her eyes. She was still beautiful. Ian was still cyinical looking and his hair was salt and pepper grey.

Sarah had written in below the card's inscription in her own neat scrawl.

Hey, Kelly. Hope you're holding up and you have a great birthday. See you at Christmas. Love Sarah

Below in his untidy writing, Ian had added his own PS

Kelly. I'm being held against my will by a beautiful brunette. Send a bottle of vodka and some cookies and I might be able to manage this.

Below was another PS.

PPS If you see Richard tell him it is not possible and he is wrong.

Kelly smiled at the notes. Ian and Richard were always arguing about something. She turned her attention to Richard Levine's card. She still thought of him as Dr Levine but she hadn't worked under him for several years. Levine always liked her and Arby. She opened his card, not at all surprised to see a check with six didgets on it. Levine always did that.

Levine typically felt like a big brother to her and Arby. He insisted on giving them a great deal of money every year. The first year Kelly had returned the check. Within a week she found a 1957 convertable Buick LaSabre in her driveway. Since then she had dutifully put the checks in her savings. Arby apparently tried the same thing and was sent a thirty foot yacht. He too had given in and both had staggering balances.

Levine still held his father's company and since the Isla Sorna adventure he had taken over. He had made well accepted changes and the company still prospered, making more dolls than ever.

Levine too had scribbled a note on the inside. Kelly, don't spend it all on one thing. And tell that arrogant mathmatician that he's wrong.

Kelly smiled and closed the card. Trust those two to use her birthday as an excuse to continue an argument.

Next she turned to Thorton's note. Thorton, or Doc as she and Arby called him, was perhaps the only adult aquantaince she had ever had who understood what it was like to be a kid. Levine either treated her and Arby as stupid or overtly intellegent. Malcolm mostly ignored them. Sarah always treated them like equals. But everyone seemed to forget that she and Arby were just kids. Except Doc. He always seemed to know exactly when to treat them like children and when to treat them like adults.

Kelly and Arby appreciated it imensly. she read the inscription on the inside. Kelly, don't let Levine and Ian get to you. Have a great birthday.

Finally she opened Arby's card. Predictably his card left her laughing. Inside however was a cryptic See you Soon.