"Is it time yet Mum?" A little boy gave out an early morning yawn.
"Not yet, sweetie." His mother gave him a gentle kiss on his forehead. "Breakfast is on the table."
"What is it?" he sighed, rubbing his dark chocolate colour eyes.
"Go and find out," his mother pushed him towards the kitchen.
"When are they supposed to get here?" He asked, glancing over his shoulder as he walked towards the kitchen.
"Early afternoon," She replied as she straightens up the living room that was a total disaster from last night chaos her husband had created as he played with their two children.
"What time is it now?" the little boy made a face as he concentrating on what time of day it was.
"You are eating breakfast so it must be morning." She didn't even glance up at him.
"Who's coming?" A little girl in a long pink nightshirt strolled out of the room she shared with her brother. In toll was a doll she carried in her arms.
"My friends!" the boy smiled, "it's my birthday party, all of my friends are coming over, and a few get to spend the night!"
"You don't have any friends," The little girl put her doll on the table beside her eggs, then proceeded to climb on the chair to look at her food dull eyed.
"I do too!" The boy gave a nod; crust from the toast he was eating flew out of his mouth.
"Na uh," she replied.
"Mum tell Kari that I do have friends!" Tai turned to find his mother talking on the telephone. "MUM! Tell Kari…"
"Tai, hunny can't you see I am on the phone?" His mother sighed and continued to talk with the person on the other end.
"See, mom can't even tell me that you have friends!" Kari stuck her tongue at her brother.
"I do have friends!" Tai fumed.
"Na uh!" Kari argued.
"Do too!"
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
"Do not!" Kari stared at her eggs intensely, "If you did then I would had meant them and I didn't meet anyone who claim to be a friend of yours!"
"I do have friends and the only reason that YOU never meant them is because they think you are stupid for playing with dollies!" Tai then took a big mouthful of eggs.
"I'm telling mom!" Kari scooted off the chair and headed in her mother's direction.
"Better not! She's on the phone and you'll get into trouble!" Tai warned her.
"Not as much trouble as you will be in!" Kari spat. Tai stuck out his tongue and made cross-eyes at her.
"I'm telling on you for that too!" Kari started to pull on her mother's sleeve. "Mummy! Mummy….Mummmy."
"Mommy is on the phone, hunny. Go over and eat your breakfast." Her mother gave her a gentle pat on the head. Kari looked back at Tai who once again stuck out his tongue.
"But Mummmmmy!" Kari whined.
"Excuse me," her mother covered the phone and knelt down to Kari's level, "Listen hunny, I'm sure what ever you want to say can wait until I get off the phone. This is a very important phone, okay. Be a good girl for mommy and go eat your breakfast." She gave Kari a kiss on the cheek before continuing her conversation. Kari stood by her side, her little arms folded in front of her and she tapped her foot repetitively. She even glanced down at her fake watch she wore on her left wrist. As she seen her father do so many times before, Kari gave a sigh, threw up her arms and shook her head. She glanced at Tai who now had her precious dolly on his breakfast plate and was trying to disconnect its arm with his butter knife.
"MUMMMY!" Kari yanked hard on her mother's sleeve, pulling the shirt off her mother's shoulder.
"Kari!" her mother pointed to the table, "NOW!"
"Mumm…"Kari pointed over to Tai who now replaced the doll to its original spot.
"Now Kari!" Her mother pointed again. Kari sulked over to the table, her little arms folded and tears starting to shine in her brown eyes.
"I hate you!" Kari spat at Tai.
"I'd hate you too if I didn't already hate this eggs more," Tai took out a huge eggshell, which made Kari giggle a little.
After brushing his teeth, playing with his trucks, cleaning up the mess he made with his trucks and five cartoons later, the bell rang singling the arrival of his first guest. Not only was this his first guest, it was the arrival of his first present. He ran to the door, Kari trying to keep up with him.
"I'll get it!" Tai yelled at his mother who was in the apartment somewhere.
"I'll get it!" Kari yelled after Tai.
"You can't get it because I have it!" Tai swung open the door to reveal a red headed girl with a large, sloppy gift-wrapped package in her hand.
"Happy birthday Tai!" Sora smiled, handing him his gift.
"Is that your girlfriend?" Kari asked, making kissing noises.
"Sora isn't a girl!" Tai pushed Kari away, "Come in, I can't wait until you see all of the balloons! Dad spent last night blowing them all up from this helacup tank!"
"You mean helium?" Sora asked.
"That's what I said!" Tai glanced up to see Sora's mother waiting by the door. "Um..sorry, do you want to come in too?"
"Thank you for remembering me," She smiled down at Tai and walked through the threshold.
Sora rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Parents…"
"Yeah…"Tai grinned at his best friend.
"So…who's all coming?" Sora asked, following her mother and Tai into a room filled completely with balloons. "WHOA! This is cool!"
"I have a bubble machine!" Kari tugged on Sora's sleeve.
"I ain't having any bubbles in my party!" Tai told her. Kari stuck out her tongue and sat in front of the television to watch some puppet show. "Kids," Tai shook his head at Sora.
"Yeah," Sora nodded her head.
"I'm never going to have them," Tai told her.
"Me either!" Sora agreed. "Tai who's coming?"
"Oh um…Do you know that really annoying girl from down stairs?" Tai asked her.
"Mimi?" Sora frowned.
"Yeah…but her parents are loaded so I'll be sure to get a great gift!" Tai smiled.
"Good thinking!" Sora high fived him.
"And um…well Izzy will be here so I'll get a computer game from him…."
"Which is always cool for a birthday present!" Sora informed him.
"And Joe should show up…"
"Odd but alright….for laughs."
"And um…Jun and her brother.."
"NO WAY!" Sora shook her head, "Not only is one annoying, but you have two!"
"I know but he's friends with Kari and mum said I had to invite one of her friends." Tai said gloomy. "And um…two kids that mom knows and other kids from school."
"Your mom invited friends?"
"Well not really. A friend of hers is…I'm not sure but she's dropping off the two boys," Tai shrugged.
"Your mom is babysitting on your birthday! That is so wrong!" Sora's eyes grew large.
"But that's two more presents…."
"Unless they give you one saying it's from the both of them and you know it won't be anything good because they don't know you so they don't want to spend their allowance on you!''
"Oh," Tai's eyebrows scrunched up, "That totally sucks!"
"Yeah!" Sora shook her head, "But hey this room is great!"
"Yeah! Dad blew up over two hundred balloons! Mom said it was because he was playing with the tank." Tai's eyes grew larger, "Want to hear something?"
"Sure," the girl shrugged and watched as Tai grabbed a floating balloon. Carefully he put a small hole in the balloon and sucked in its air.
"I'm a little tea pot short and sta…" Tai started to sing in a chipmunk voice.
"Cool!" Sora took the balloon from him and as she had seen him do, she inhaled the helium, "How do I sound?"
"Weird…"Tai laughed.
"Mum he's doing it again!" Kari yelled at her mother.
"Tai leave the balloons alone." His mother's voice came form the kitchen where she gathered other mothers who started to show up. Soon kids gathered in a huge group throwing balloons at each other, jumping off the coffee tables and on to the sofa. Davis was convinced he was Spiderman and started throwing yarn around the house. Tai ran to the door ever time he heard it rang, waiting to receive even more presents. This time when he opens the door, two blue eye boys started back at him.
"Hi!" He waved to them.
"Hi.." The youngest said with a timid voice, the older boy just glared. Their mother stood behind them, her eyes rimmed with red as though she was crying.
"Hello hun," She handed him two huge presents, "Happy birthday. My…I haven't seen you since you were Tk's age!" She placed her arms on the youngest boy's shoulder who turned his angelic head up to hers with a huge smile on his face.
"Um…oh." Tai frowned, not sure what to do. "Um…well come in," He open the door wider for them to go through. The lady put her hands on the two boy's shoulder to guide them into the room. The oldest boy shrugged her hand off his shoulder. "Mom!" Tai yelled into the kitchen.
"Nancy!" His mother embraced the other women who started to cry all over his mother.
"Your mom must get really emotional over birthdays," Tai looked at the two boys.
"Shut up." The older boy told him, barely gaving him a glance; he just kept glaring at whatever was directly before him.
"Okay…"Tai turned around and put the presents on the table next to the cake. "Well..um everyone else is in here," Tai head for the living room. The youngest kid followed but the other one just stayed where he was, staring at nothing.
"Tk is handling it alright I guess. He does not really understand any of it. Doesn't understand why we all cannot be together again and...well Matt hates me. He won't even talk to me," the other lady was telling his mom as Tai walked pass. Tai stared up at her for a moment, not sure what was going on but he suddenly felt bad for the little kid behind him and the older one who…acted like an ass.
"Um…well my sister is about your age I guess and there is a little kid around here called Davis you might like to play with," Tai told Tk, who was staring up at all the balloons wide eyed.
"TAI!" Jun jumped right next to him, Mimi close behind. "Who was that boy!"
"What boy?" Tai asked, "This one?" He pointed down to Tk who smiled at both of the girls.
"No the other one!" Mimi giggled.
"Um…I dunno," Tai shrugged, "Their mom is friends with mine and I haven't really meant them."
"I'm Tk and that's my brother Matt," the little boy pointed to the figure that leaned against the wall between the kitchen and the living room.
"He is soooo cute!" Jun and Mimi giggled again.
"Um…okay," Tai pushed passed them.
"Hand them a drooling bowl!" Sora rolled her eyes.
"Tell me about it," Tai made a gag motion.
"Hey little dude," Sora punched Tk playfully on the shoulder. "So what's your name?"
"I'm Tk and I'm five!" He held out his five fingers.
"So you are! Wow can you believe he's five Tai?" Sora smiled her best friend.
"Yeah," Tai look confused.
"Whoa! That just went over your head!" Sora slapped him on the back.
"Huh?"
"Nothing…"Sora started to move to other friends they shared.
"Kari and Davis!" Tai whistled and like two puppies, they bounced at his side. "Hey you two, this here is Tk. Tk's mom is friends with our mom so you better be nice to him!" Tai warned his sister.
"I am always nice!" Kari stuck out her tongue. "Hi Tk! This is Davis."
"Why do they call you Tk?" Davis asked.
"Why do they call you Davis?" Tk asked.
"Because that's my name," Davis frowned.
"Why?"
"I don't know…."
"Why don't you know?"
"I never asked I guess," Davis shrugged.
"Why haven't you ever asked?"
"I never thought about asking."
"Why haven't you ever thought about it?"
"I don't know…"
"Why don't you know?"
"How am I supposed to know?" Davis cried.
"I don't know…."
"Why don't YOU know?" Davis smiled in trumpet.
"Because I am coping what you said and if you don't know then I couldn't know since I asked you the same question and not knowing was how you replied." Tk smiled brightly.
"Oh…he has you there Davis." Kari smiled.
"Cake time!" Tai heard above everyone's voice. "Where's the birthday boy?"
"Here!" Tai rushed to the front of the table where nine candles danced before his eyes. He rubbed his hands together and took a deep breath, blowing out all the candles.
"And that's what happens when you are full of hot air," Sora told everyone at the table. Tai stuck his tongue at her playfully as his mother served everyone cake. The whole room filled with chattering kids and what games they were going to play. The only one who didn't seem to be happy was Matt. Tai's mother tried to get him involved in some of the games but he just glared at her. Tai loved his mother because, even though she fed him eggshells for breakfast, she was a very understanding and patient woman. Even at his young age, the moment he saw her trying to help a bad situation, he felt proud of his mother. He knew parents told their kids how proud they were of them, but he never knew it could work visa versa.
Presents were opened after the party games were finished. Ooohhs and Ahhhhs filled the room with the sound of a little nine year old ripping into each package. Tai thought he made out pretty good, not a bad gift out of the bunch. Half an hour after the last present was open, the doorbell rang. A singling for the party to end as the first kid said his goodbyes and headed out the door. One by one, parents came to pick up their children who, at that time were all played out and couldn't wait to go home. Tai's mother grantee every parent that the cake was fat free and sugar free which Tai just rolled his eyes. Soon, the only ones left in the room was a small group of his friends and the two outsiders, his sister and her friend. Sora, Davis, Tk, Kari, Jun, Mimi, Izzy, Joe and Matt stood facing him. These were the ones he would have to entertain for the whole night. It wasn't so bad since Kari, Davis and Tk had to go to be early. Mimi and Jun were happy enough to goggle at Matt. Sora and Izzy were always easy to have a good time with. Joe on the other hand was extremely caution about everything they did. Matt, he was going to be hard to get to lighten up but Tai was up for the challenge. The blonde hair boy suddenly locked eyes with his; a challenge was accept…at least in Tai's mind.
