The Mayor and Bessie went to fetch the presents in from where they'd hidden them. They'd hidden the presents because Stingy still hadn't gotten over his little problem where all presents were his and hid them from everyone. Robyn could also have the tendency to be a little nosey on occasion and shake all her presents to try and figure out was in each one which wasn't such a good thing if the presents happened to be fragile. Everyone was handed their present to give to Robyn and there was some kafuffle as to who would go first.
Kit suggested that everyone could give Robyn their presents going clockwise round the table. Ziggy gave Robyn her present first. Robyn unwrapped the present and laughed when she received yet another half eaten chocolate bar. It was Trixie's turn next and Robyn got a bracelet from her, it was silver like her necklace and had little charms round it. Stingy's present was a small selection of hair clips which was rather useful as Robyn got mud in her hair when she was tending her garden as it was really quite long now and she rarely tied it back. Sportacus' turn came next and he handed Robyn a necklace. It had a thin chain with small flowers dotted round it and Ziggy helped her put it on. Surprisingly it went really well with the bracelet Trixie had given her which she was also wearing and had obviously been some sort of coordinated effort.
When it was Kit's turn Robyn expected nothing from him but was surprised to see that he pulled a familiar looking lilac blouse from behind his back. She recognised it as the blouse she'd worn the night she'd rescued Skip from Erin's talons. She'd had to write off the blouse as the sleeve had been ripped where Erin's talons had gone into her arm and blood had soaked into it. She inspected blouse and opened her eyes wide in wonder when she saw the sleeve had been modified a little to make the holes look as if they'd been there all the time as part of the blouse and the blood had all gone.
"I'm pretty good with a needle and thread. I made the other sleeve look the same." Kit explained smiling widely, he was glad Robyn appreciated his effort.
"How did you get the blood out?" Sportacus asked as surprised as Robyn at seeing the blouse looking spotless.
"Believe it or not I used vinegar and lemon juice. I added quite a lot of water and soap and left the sleeve to soak for three hours. With a little bit of scrubbing the stain came right off." Kit replied still smiling.
Bessie went to write down what Kit had done for her own personal use in case of un-shift able stains making their way into her laundry. When she returned Robyn thanked the people on the first half of the table for their presents and moved on to the next half.
Pixel handed Robyn his present which was a highly prized birthday password for his computer. It wasn't extremely imaginative or original but it was still appreciated. Stephanie's present was a small make up kit with a small bottle of perfume thrown in. Bessie's present was a small bag of flower seeds direct from Greentown which was the horticultural capital of the nation.
"Hybrid seeds. Wow, only the best can make these grow and only the very very best can make the plants bloom." Robyn stated looking at the bag.
"You'll make them grow and bloom dear. You're extremely good with your flowers and I can see you having no trouble at all with those." Bessie encouraged. Everyone nodded their agreement, flowers were Robyn's speciality.
"I'll definitely give it a really good try. I might have to rearrange a few beds here and there to fit them in but it won't take too long." Robyn smiled and seemed extremely enthusiastic about testing her skills on her new seeds.
The Mayor handed Robyn his present next and everyone laughed when they saw it was another pair of socks.
"Oh Milford," Bessie cried in near exasperation. "Socks again?"
The Mayor was about to say something but Robyn cut in, "It is a very useful present. I need a new pair of socks and here they are. Ziggy's present is useful too because I only have half a chocolate bar to eat now. I can cut off the nibbled bit and keep the rest. No need to worry."
Everyone smiled admiring Robyn's logic. They liked the way Robyn thought and the way she was always fair. It was a quality most of them wanted to possess themselves.
"There is one present you haven't opened yet," The Mayor said and pulled a surprise present from under the table, "This one is from all of us."
The present was pretty big and looked like a book of some kind. She carefully pulled away the wrapping to see it was a photo album. Opening it she smiled when she saw that it had already been filled with lots and lots of photos from all the years she'd been alive so far. Out of all the pictures the baby pictures were the sweetest and Robbie featured in a lot of the photos up to the time Robyn was four and a half. Each photo had a small caption and a date underneath. There were lots of pictures of Robyn with all her friends and with Sportacus as well. Her whole life so far had been documented in this wonderful present. There were still a great amount of empty pages for Robyn to put other photos in.
"This is great. It must have taken ages to sort through them all," Robyn said gleefully, she loved it. "There's only one problem with it though."
"What?" Everyone asked noticing that Robyn was struggling to keep a straight face.
"You're not in it." Robyn chuckled looking at Kit.
Knowing what it was everyone chuckled. They'd been worried for a second.
Kit waved a hand dismissively, "my ugly mug would ruin the whole album." He joked lightly.
Everyone murmured some kind of protest to this but Kit wouldn't have it. He looked at Stephanie for a second and a small impish expression flashed across his face, "I have to ask something and I hope you don't mind." He said addressing Stephanie.
"Go on," Stephanie urged dubiously.
Kit struggle to maintain a straight face when he said, "no offence but were you born in a candy floss machine or something because I've never seen anyone that looks pinker than you."
Everyone laughed at this question including Stephanie. Trixie laughed so hard she fell off her chair and rolled around on the floor. "I have never heard anything so funny! That was great! I've never come up with a joke better than that about pinkie's pinkness." Trixie managed to say in between fits of laughter.
With all the presents opened it was cake time which was greatly welcome. Robyn blew out all her candles in one go and sliced the cake for everyone. As usual Sportacus declined cake and Ziggy had his share.
Once everyone had had their cake and his meal had sufficiently gone down enough so he could mover the Mayor started to get up from the table but Kit raised a hand to stop him, "I know what you're going to do and I insist you desist and let me do the washing up for you."
"You can't. You're a guest and guests don't do the washing up." The Mayor protested despite it being a tempting offer.
Kit shook his head, "no excuses. You cooked, I clean. I can also do a little show for everyone while I wash up, you haven't seen me do plate spinning yet have you?"
It was Bessie who got up now, "I'd rather you didn't spin the plates. They're china."
Kit waved another hand dismissively, "Mrs Busybody, I'm an expert. Your plates are in safe hands with me I can assure you."
Bessie felt very tempted to see some tricks after what Kit had said and gave in on any further protests she'd thought of. Kit collected up all the plates and deposited all the uneaten food into a bowl for Skip who had waited patiently for the fest he'd been promised. Robyn moved to sit in Kit's vacated seat so everyone could see.
When everyone was ready Kit wiped down each plate to take off any dirt and gathering a bunch of plate spinning sticks from his bag placed a plate on top and started it spinning. With expert ease Kit let the plate spin and kept it going when it slowed down. Everyone gasped in awe when Kit balanced the first plate on his chin while starting another plate spinning. Removing the plate from his chin Kit spun it again and then placed it on top of the second plate. He did this with two more plates and asking for a drum roll which he duly received he expertly tipped the top plates from the sticks and caught them on each foot. Next he tipped the bottom plates from their sticks and caught them in each hand after quickly dropping the sticks. Kicking each foot up in turn the plates on his feet landed on the plates in his hand. He bowed when his audience applauded and cheered. Bessie inspected each plate in her own way and upon declaring that each plate was undamaged the applause grew.
With the first four plates cleaned Kit did the rest in a normal way which had one or two people booing. He grinned cheekily and pulled a funny face which turned the 'boos' to laughter. Once he'd done cleaning up everyone clapped again.
"I bet you can't do that," Ziggy said to Sportacus yet again acting like a little kid.
Sportacus shook his head and smiled, "I'd rather not try. I couldn't handle the repercussions if I dropped any plates."
Everyone chuckled at this. With the party more or less over and with nothing else to be done the guests left the Mayor's house before Bessie could say her speech which had grown to a massive two hours in length. Robyn thanked everyone again and hugged and kissed them before going to her garden to see how she could rearrange it. Kit helped her put the clips in her hair to keep it from her face in case she needed to tend it.
With Robyn gone to her garden Kit helped the Mayor and Bessie tidy away the decorations. Upon reflection he realised he'd never felt so welcome anywhere and with great pain knew that he'd have to move on soon. It wasn't his way to stay anywhere too long and he couldn't stand goodbyes.
With a heavy heart Kit fixed a day and time for his departure in his head. Telling people would get him nowhere. He knew that by leaving he'd be hurting Robyn but what could she possibly see of value in a man who was a drifter and a clown?