Back at the main hangout everyone was exhausted from their forced labor, except RJ who was sitting in his chair completely relaxed.
"You know I could've helped you guys do all that work it's not like I wanted to just sit here." RJ said sliding out of his chair onto a balloon that burst under his foot leaving a stinging sensation in it.
"Oww…that's the second time today, seriously less balloons or at least scatter some of them out more." RJ said rubbing his foot.
"Well we wanted to do the best possible job at making this perfect." Verne said in a tired hoarse voice. Everyone felt a sudden rush of wind "I'm back! Hey what happened?" hammy said excitedly.
"There you are! Hey what's the surprise?" RJ said running up to Hammy almost jumping up and down like a kid would.
"Huh oh yeah, well uh RJ…I remembered how you threw away your old golf club and everything so…" Hammy dashed back into a bush and came rushing back just as quickly.
"Here ya go!" Hammy handed RJ a golf club and a bag. RJ looked it over for a second.
"Thanks Hammy! But uh isn't this my old one?" RJ asked him curiously.
"Well yeah but I also got you the bag, look in it!" Hammy yelled overexcited quickly unzipping the bag before RJ got a chance too. RJ peered into it for a moment and pulled out a leather-bound hardcover "It's…a book..?" RJ said still unsure of it.
"You gotta open it first RJ, look inside, everyone else too!" Hammy gestured everyone else to get closer, huddling them all close together so they could get a clear view of what was on the first page. RJ was speechless by what he saw "A photo album? This is so awesome you guys! Thank you so much!" RJ said patting everyone on the shoulder and hugging them closely with one arm.
"Don't look at me, I didn't do this I was busy all day gathering stuff for this party." Heather said putting her hands out in front of her.
"Yeah me neither, I was busy getting food." Verne said next. RJ looked at them "you guys didn't make this together?" RJ said still wondering what was going on.
"Well I don't mean to brag but I did it! I made it all by myself for everybody, especially you RJ!" Hammy said prideful and satisfied. "Really, that's really…wow…thank you." RJ felt like picking Hammy up and hugging him until he was breathless but instead pulled him relatively close into a headlock with one arm and began scratching his head "You little hyperactive bundle of fur, how did you do this?" RJ said hugging him even closer almost smothering him.
"Well its not that hard really, I mean I just took some pictures of everybody and put them in the little picture slot things." Hammy said pulling away from RJ's grip for a momentary breath of air.
"I meant more like, what made you think of this?" RJ said letting go of Hammy entirely and started to look at the next page.
"Oh well…everyone was thinking of stuff for you and I wanted to do something no one else would."
Hammy couldn't help but be a little proud; he rarely had the chance to prove himself to everyone, let alone RJ.
"Jeepers Hammy this is really good." Penny said looking over a page entirely dedicated to her, Lou, and their kids.
"Isn't there any of me and my Tiger in here?" Stella said searching through the pages quickly.
"Here's one, aww you put a little heart frame around it." Stella said.
"Yeah, well I wanted to do something for all of you but its still RJ's remember." Hammy gave it back to RJ quickly before Stella was finished looking at it.
Hammy said closing the photo album and handing it back to RJ who took it gratefully. "Wow hammy that was really thoughtful of you, I would have never been able to think of that all on my own." Verne said. "Well let's not end the fun here, come on everyone lets get started with this party!"
Heather said getting back into an eager mood again "She's right, this is RJ's special day, lets make the most of it!" Stella said following after her as everyone else did as well. Before Verne did the same he stopped and turned to RJ "I hope you're enjoying this so far?" Verne asked in a confident tone. "I really am, thank you Verne, you all have given me something I thought I'd never see again." RJ grinned widely back at Verne who walked away doing the same. Hammy felt a bit invisible now as everyone was paying no mind to him or his gift anymore. RJ noticed Hammy was staring at the ground with the small photo book held in one of his paws.
"Hey are you doing ok buddy?" RJ asked as Hammy quickly looked up into RJ's sapphire eyes. He was almost entranced by them but regained his usual expression quickly "Oh, I'm fine, just tired I guess, umm yeah, tired from foraging that's it." Hammy tried to act normal but RJ wasn't buying it "You didn't forage anything today remember?" RJ was curious at why Hammy was acting this way, he wasn't himself. Hammy knew he couldn't fool RJ this time "Well, I…its just…It seems like everyone is ignoring me…and I don't want you to ignore me too." Hammy was feeling down now by what he said himself which rarely happened.
"What makes you think their ignoring you?" RJ said putting a paw on his shoulder causing Hammy to shudder a little "Well, their always doing things without me, like today, I could've helped but I didn't want to get in the way again; besides, I'm not…like them." Hammy sat down on the soft green earth looking over to where everyone was starting to get things up and running. RJ sat next to him "What do you mean? You get along great with them, and nobody says anything bad about you." RJ heard hammy scoff so quietly it sounded more like a whimper.
"I get along with them, they like me but I'm just not like any of them; I feel out of place whenever I see how different they are from me, its like I don't belong here but they still call me family." Hammy said
RJ sighed "You know…I'm the same way."
"Everyone here loves me for who I am and I really feel weird being given all of these things and being part of this, I feel…like I don't belong here either but turns out I am here."
RJ brought a smile back to Hammy's face "Your right RJ I should be happier, it's just hard you know?"
"Yeah I understand what that feels like." RJ said as he got back to his feet but Hammy stayed put "Guess we should go see what their doing now right?" RJ said stretching his arms.
Before RJ could go anywhere Hammy grabbed his left paw quickly pulling him back "Uh, will you come back?" he asked RJ in a soft voice. RJ simply nodded and walked away.
"Yeah alright, but RJ I'd like to talk to you later about something kind of weird." Hammy said getting up and beginning to walk ahead of RJ. RJ followed behind him slowly "Really, err what weird stuff?" RJ was curious sure Hammy was something else but not likely the one to talk about it
"You know stuff like uh stars and…dreams." Hammy tried not to make it sound like it was dreams that were bugging him but again RJ knew something was amiss. Hammy didn't stick around for a yes from RJ but instead zipped off somewhere else out of sight. RJ had to pause for a moment "dreams?' RJ said to himself "dreams of what?" he thought again.
RJ was no stranger to nightmares and had them often but most of them were unrelated to any actual events in his life except for the last few which revolved around Hammy and someone else who haunted him. It was someone who stayed in RJ's memory for the longest time, someone who would rarely be forgotten. "Hey RJ over here, we saved some cake for you!" one of the kids yelled with their mouth still half full of food.
"I'll be over in a second!" RJ called back to them. RJ saw that the photo album Hammy made for him was still lying on the ground.
"I still can't believe he'd do something like this for me, especially by himself." RJ said as he picked up the book and began looking through it again as he walked towards the others.
"Let's see, these are of Stella, these are Heathers, and…here it is my own personal page." RJ thought as he scanned over the pictures of himself.
"These are really good, it even seems like Hammy worked harder making my pictures than everyone else's." RJ closed it and approached Verne and the others who were sitting down in a circle.
"Ready to tell us a story RJ?" one of the triplets said "Yeah tell us more about you, like about your fam…" Heather stopped herself from finishing that sentence and muttered a soft "...sorry" quietly "I didn't mean to."
"No its ok, don't worry about it Heather." RJ reassured her.
"You guys did all this for me, its ok, you should know more about me so; I'll start by telling you about my family."