Chapter 2

Next morning…June 18th

Lynn Sr. woke up feeling refreshed at eight a.m. He glanced over to his right and noticed Rita wasn't there. At the moment, Rita was currently watching a morning news program and drinking coffee. She had another week of vacation leave while he was opening the restaurant tomorrow. Lynn Sr. had decided Lynn's Table would be closed on Sundays to allow his staff to rest on the Sabbath.

"Hmm tomorrow is Lincoln's birthday," he thought after a while. Everyone bought birthday cards for Lincoln before leaving on vacation.

It was ten-thirty a.m. when Lincoln was roused from sleep by noises some of his sisters were making in the upstairs hallway. Lincoln would begin working at the restaurant on Wednesday this week. Leni already left for her job at Royal Woods mall and Rita was out taking Charles for a walk.

He sighed in frustration.

"Well no more sleep for me," he muttered with annoyance as he got out of bed and stepped outside of his bedroom. In the hallway, Lincoln nearly missed Lola driving over his feet as she drove her pink toy car.

"Hops, get back here," Lincoln heard Lana shouting as he noticed her pet frog leaping out of her room. The amphibian was heading towards Lincoln. "Help me catch him Lincoln," Lana commanded. A few seconds later he was able to grab the errant Hops and handed the frog over to his sister.

Lana thanked her brother. "No problem," he replied then washed his hands before getting dressed then going downstairs to fix breakfast.

Few minutes after Lincoln finished breakfast Luan woke up feeling quite rested. While dressing the comedian wondered, "I wonder who I should prank today."

Luan thought for a few seconds then thought Lincoln.

"But I wonder what kind of prank," she thought.

She walked out of her room and while passing Lincoln's door she heard someone in the bathroom turning on the shower.

Suddenly Luan remembered Lincoln usually showered around this time when school was out and a devious smile crossed her face as an idea came to her.

Luan slipped into the bathroom silently then quickly grabbed the only two clean towels hanging on the rack then slipped back out again. She rushed downstairs after putting the towels on her bed. Actually, Lincoln had woken up around seven that morning and was unable to go back to sleep so he decided to take a bath while everybody else was still asleep.

Three minutes later Luan was eating some cereal. Just then Lincoln walked into the dining room. He was just coming back inside from a short walk.

"Morning," Lincoln said calmly to his sister before entering the kitchen. She wasn't really paying attention to who spoke then suddenly realized it was Lincoln.

Luan placed a hand to her open mouth. "Then who is in the bath..." Her question was answered at that very moment.

"HEY WHO'S THE WISE GUY WHO STOLE THE TOWELS," Luna shouted, "SOMEONE GET ME A TOWEL!" Luan rushed back upstairs to retrieve one of the towels. Luan was hiding behind the door when Luan entered.

"Oh sorry about that Luna I thought you were Lincoln," she said sheepishly.

Luna snarled at her sister and grabbed the towel.

June 19th

Lincoln woke up to the sounds of silence. Suddenly he remembered today was his twelfth birthday. He wasn't in the mood to rise yet even though it was nine a.m. Lincoln sat up and stretched a little before laying his head back on his pillow.

"I'm so thankful that I start work tomorrow" he thought contentedly.

Five minutes later, Luna knocked on the door.

"Who's there," the boy called out.

"Hey little bro could you come downstairs? You have a visitor," Luna answered.

Lincoln dragged himself from under the sheets and went to open the door and was surprised to see twelve people wearing huge smiles on their faces.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINCOLN," everyone shouted happily before Lincoln could say anything.

"Thanks guys," he managed to blurt out, then Rita kissed him on his right cheek after telling him happy birthday again.

"How does it feel to be twelve son?" Lynn Sr. asked his son in a jovial manner.

"I don't feel any different than yesterday," Lincoln said simply.

His parents chuckled a little at the naive statement. "Wash your hands and come downstairs for your birthday breakfast," Rita told him.

Everyone in the family always had special breakfasts made by another family member on their birthdays every year.

Lincoln rushed downstairs after washing his hands. The smell of bacon was in the air once he entered the dining area. As Lincoln sat in his chair at the table, Lynn Sr. carried a tray with a plate filled with two pancakes, one fried egg and some bacon.

"Enjoy your breakfast son," he said and smiled at Lincoln.

Later when he returned to his bedroom Lincoln noticed nine birthday cards laying on his dresser. A pink card that was obviously hand made with a large heart drawn crookedly on the front stood out from the rest.

"This had to be made by Lola," he surmised, then picked up the card.

He opened it and inside the card, Lana and Lola had written this message in their childlike handwriting, "To the best brother in the whole world," with their names written under the message. Lincoln closed the card then opened a green colored one.

It was from his sporty sister Lynn. Lori peeped through his bedroom door at that moment while he read the card.

"Lincoln, Pop-Pop's on video chat and wants to tell you Happy Birthday," Lori said.

He dropped the card on the table and followed Lori. The downstairs computer was on and he saw his grandfather's smiling face on the screen.

"Hey kiddo happy birthday!" Pop-Pop greeted his grandson warmly, "How are you doing today?"

"I'm fine Pop-Pop," Lincoln said happily, "And how are you?"

"Oh everything's okay with me kiddo. Today me and the other residents are getting medical check-ups," the elderly man replied.

"That's a good thing," Lincoln said.

"Have you received your birthday card and money I sent?" Pop-Pop then asked.

Every year Lincoln received a birthday card with money from his grandfather either in the mail or in person.

"Not yet," Lincoln replied, "I'll check the mailbox today."

"I also put in an extra five dollars instead of the usual twenty," Pop-Pop said.

"Thanks Pop-Pop," Lincoln said in gratitude.

Then Lincoln saw a nurse approach his grandfather.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your talk with your grandson but the doctor is here," she said.

"Sorry kiddo but I have to go, enjoy the rest of your birthday," Pop-Pop told Lincoln.

When Lincoln turned off the computer he headed back to his room to read the rest of the cards.

Clyde just finished having lunch with his father Howard who worked at home sometimes the during school holidays. When Clyde was done washing the lunch dishes, he went into his bedroom and called Lincolns number.

At the moment Lincoln was watching YouTube videos on his laptop.

"Hey Lincoln Happy Birthday," he almost shouted when his friend answered.

"Thanks Clyde," Lincoln said.

"Doing anything special today?" Clyde inquired.

"No I'll use the opportunity to hog the TV all to myself," Lincoln replied.

The next morning Lincoln arrived with his father at Lynn's Table at nine. He followed Lynn Sr. into his office where on the desk was a time sheet with Lincoln's name and handed the boy a pen and told him to write in the time he arrived.

"Please sign in every morning and sign out every afternoon. You have a ten minute break at 11:15 and another at 1:10. At twelve you get thirty minutes for lunch."

"Let's give you something easy to start with," Lynn Sr. said. The boy followed his father into the large kitchen. Lynn Sr. walked to a counter with ketchup bottles and one industrial sized one with a spout.

"Wash your hands then fill these bottles with ketchup from the large one then put two of them in the center of each table," Lynn Sr. instructed. "Take your time. If you need anything ask Grant or Rudy," he added then departed.

Lincoln donned a pair of disposable gloves and an apron and started working.

"Hey Lincoln its twelve o'clock," Grant told him while heading in the dining room to clear a table. He followed Grant into the clean employee lounge.

After lunch everyone returned to work with Lincoln being asked to help throw out expired food from the walk in refrigerator.

At 1:00 p.m. Lynn Sr approached Lincoln as he was about to clear another table.

"Lincoln time to take you home", he told his son.

"Thank goodness I'm totally exhausted," Lincoln thought to himself. A few minutes' later father and son arrived home

"Hey Lincoln how was work?" Luan greeted her brother cheerily as he stepped inside the house.

"Luan all I want to do is go upstairs and lie down," he said tiredly while heading towards the stairs. Once Lincoln closed his bedroom door he flopped wearily on his bed after removing his sneakers.

"At least I never had to clean the bathrooms," he thought. Lincoln closed his eyes and block all thoughts from his mind. Lincoln soon fell asleep then woke up a few hours later just in time for dinner.