December 13th 2022

Chapter 347
Our Cheers For Ice Cream

As if having birthdays nowadays didn't already feel much more like a reminder that he was getting older each time, Lucas had a back-up. Never mind that his own birthday was surrounded by those of two of his daughters, one before and one after by a couple of weeks or so, but he had his birthday buddy. Nicholas Orlando and he had been going out together for ice cream on their birthday since he'd turned one… and now today he had just turned seven years old. This would be their seventh time doing this already when he still recalled making the vow to Nicky's father, the day the boy was born. The first few had been a bit one-sided, with him being so small, but more and more, as he grew up, these moments had come to mean much more to Lucas, just as they did to Nicky. For the boy, it went to the simple fact that he loved his uncle, but for him… Maybe a part of him almost felt like, in that moment, he could know what it might have been like to have a son. Did he love that idea? Completely. Would he give up his experience as father to seven girls? Not for all the world.

He'd already seen his birthday buddy once by the time he picked him up in the afternoon. Lucas and Maya had swapped drop-off/pick-up duties for the day, which had also required for her to shift her daily detention with Lydia and Lamar, so he had done the drop-offs in the morning. When he arrived at the elementary school, he got to see Zay with Mia, and Dylan with Nicky, too. The kindergartner/birthday boy spotted his uncle with Marianne and hurried over to them.

He was very much looking forward to the end of the day and seeing his uncle again. As the past couple of years had come to create this new routine for them, they would go get their ice cream before ending up over at the comic book store. Lucas wondered sometimes if the day would come that his turtle nephew would decide that he no longer wanted to go with him for their birthdays, if he would wish to relegate it to his childhood and nothing more. His feeling on that though was generally that it would not be so. Nicky was so like his parents, and they had always nurtured his spirit in such a way that he would be open and free always, but then they never knew, right? Sure, they were parents, several times over, but none of their children had reached the threshold of adolescence, at least not with them.

This was a matter for another time. For now, Nicky Orlando was seven and excited. So, he went off for his day of school, and Lucas went back to the ranch. He'd grab a nap when the opportunity struck, making up for his early rise and making sure he wouldn't be nodding off by the time he picked up his buddy. He checked on their sick horse, naturally, and was happy to see some improvement, though they were not out of the woods just yet. He spent most of his day weaving in and out of the stables to check on him some more and did so one more time right before finally heading out, back to the elementary school to get Nicky.

He scanned the parking lot on his way in, certain that, aside from Zay, who taught here, he might run into Maya when she came for Marianne, but he'd either missed them or she hadn't come yet. He went inside and found Nicky, who proudly informed him that he'd only had a bit of his snack in the afternoon, to be sure that he would be hungry for his ice cream. This now meant of course that he had achieved his goal and was very eager to get going, so they went right back around and made their way to the car. He didn't think he had been gone that long, and yet by the time he approached with Nicky, he discovered that there had been plenty of time for someone to attach a couple of balloons and use chalk markers to draw some birthday 'decorations' here and there.

The artist – or artists – had disappeared, but he had a pretty good idea of who they were. He could imagine them, hidden in wait until he'd gone away, and he chuckled, even as Nicky reacted in awe.

"That one has my name on it!" he pointed to the balloon strung to the mirror on the passenger side.

"It does," Lucas nodded. "Guess that's yours then," he smiled.

With this sneaky surprise accomplished, the birthday buddies headed off to the ice cream shop. As Lucas drove, Nicky told him about his day, including his morning at home. His father had made him pancakes in 'superhero shapes.' His mother and little sisters had had as much trouble as him to make out whether the shapes were really what his father said they were, but it didn't matter. They were still very delicious. His baby sister couldn't have pancakes yet, being just about two months old, but Dylan still made her little, tiny pancakes, which he 'implored' Nicky, Emily, and Megan to eat on Aimee's behalf. The children had ever generously accepted. The little things were kind of crunchy, but that made them good in a whole other way.

"Bet they would have been good with the ice cream, too," Lucas commented in passing, not even thinking that it would turn the boy's eyes to saucers just to consider it. He paused when they'd reached a red light and considered his options. "Okay, I have an idea."

It was comforting in a way to think about how they were now in a position to show up at Ma Maggie's, asking something specifically not on the menu, and receiving it with such ease and free of charge to top it off. Either way, Lucas and Nicky soon were in possession of six tiny, kind of crunchy pancakes, which they brought along to the ice cream shop. Like the year of the belated preschool cake, some construction was involved, but soon they ended up sitting across from one another with their created desserts. Lucas had been correct. The pancakes with the ice cream were very good.

"Maybe from here on out we need to come up with other things to put with our ice cream every year," Lucas suggested, and Nicky liked this idea very much. "What should we try next year?" The boy thought, all the while watching his uncle dip one of his spare pancakes into the ice cream like a scoop and deciding to do the same.

"Bacon!" Nicky finally decided, and Lucas laughed. That'd be something.

When all the ice cream was gone and hands and faces had been cleaned of any stickiness, they went on their way to this new part of their routine, new of the past two years. As they walked into the comic store and encountered Peter, Lucas thought about the first time he'd gone and found himself bringing what would be Marianne's first true introduction to comic books. He thought of how far she'd come in the last two years, everything that she'd discovered, especially as she was becoming a better and better reader. They were always careful about the level of violence, and language, and anything else that might have been inappropriate for a child her age, but they also knew her maturity very well, so it had opened more doors, to the point now that she would come into the store sometimes and start discussing the things she'd read, taking some of her fellow customers by surprise. Not Peter though, no. Peter loved nothing more than to nurture young readers, young fans, and Marianne was one of his favorites to assist… as was Nicky Orlando.

"Hey, the birthday guys! Welcome!" he greeted them. "Nicky, wait until you see what just came in, dude, check it out."

As the two of them talked along, Lucas looked around and browsed. He had some issues to pick up per Marianne's request, and they would be at the register already, but beyond that… He started to think about the triplets, and whether they might have been getting to be old enough to start exploring the store, too. They knew all about their big sister's growing collection, and Marianne would allow them to look at the little books, with a gentle caution for how they would handle them. They were starting to get curious about them, so sometimes Lucas or Maya would find Marianne leading story time for her sisters, telling them about what was happening on the pages, reading them the words… She'd be so animated that they might have been looking at a screen, watching a movie, for how they would both look and sound enthralled. Maybe he'd bring them out here on or after their fourth birthday in August…

"Uncle Lucas, look!" Nicky came running back to him, showing his birthday freebie.

"Nice," Lucas grinned. "Hey, so, I thought this year I'd let you go ahead and pick your present from in here. I see how you've been eyeing that case over there," he nodded. He knew he'd hit his mark from the look on the boy's face right before he ran over. When Lucas joined him, he asked which one he had his eye on, and Nicky pointed. "You got it," he agreed, and he watched Nicky watch Peter, his feet never sitting firm on the ground for a second as he watched the man open the case, remove the chosen figure, and bring it to where he could get it in a box for transport. When he was handed the bag that it was placed in, he finally did stop moving around, if only to protect the present. He held it in his little boy arms and stared up at his uncle.

"Thank you! Thank you… a lot!"

"You're welcome a lot," Lucas laughed.

Nicky held the box secure still, all the way back home and up into his room, wouldn't even open it to show his parents until then. They were going to find a good place for it, safe from running little sisters or dogs. Finally, Lucas drove on toward home, his car now with one less balloon, as of course Nicky got to keep his. Lucas went up to the house, holding on to his balloon, the better to see the smirk on his 'secret artist' when she saw him.

"That is a nice balloon," Maya told him.

"It is, isn't it? Strangest thing happened this afternoon, you know? It just… showed up, out of nowhere," Lucas played along. Maya 'gasped.'

"Amazing," she went on, before finally grinning. "Have a good day?"

"I did. You?" he asked, and she nodded.

"How was the ice cream?"

"We added tiny pancakes," he reported, and Maya was intrigued. "To be continued. Right now, I have a delivery to make," he held up the bag of comics… only to have it snatched out of his hand by a passing Marianne, speeding in and out. "Hey, easy there, Flash!" Lucas called after her, seeing that big Maya grin on her face as she looped around and came to hug him. She couldn't help being excited at new comic day. "Peter says hi," he told her, and she smiled, stepping back now to peer giddily into the bag.

"Thank you, Daddy," she looked back at him, then, "Don't go in the kitchen."

"Again?" he mock complained.

"So impatient," Maya teased him right back, looking to Marianne as though to say, 'see how he is?' "Go get your sisters, please?" Maya asked, and off she went.

"We got new stories!" she called out as she hiked the stairs, and Lucas heard the merry calls of her young audience overhead.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners