The Birthday Hutch Forgot…or didn't.
Friday March 25th 1977
Still nothing.
They'd gotten to lunchtime and Hutch hadn't produced anything even remotely resembling a birthday card, let alone a gift.
Now, it was nearing end of shift and still nothing.
Starsky sighed. He'd given his friend enough hints last week. So many hints in fact that even a blind man would have seen them.
"Hmf."
"Did you say something, partner?" Hutch asked.
"Nah. I guess not…Can we give up on Larry the Loser and call it a day? I'm beat."
"Sure."
Hutch didn't argue. It had been a tough week and he was just as weary as his partner. He reached for the radio and spoke to the dispatch officer, informing her that Zebra Three was now off duty.
"You want to go straight home?" Hutch asked, as he started the engine of his car.
Starsky tried to hide his disappointment as he shook his head. Some birthday this was going to be. His mother had rung him early this morning and he'd told her Hutch was bound to have something planned. Now, it looked as if he'd been wrong. What would be worse? Eating alone at home on his birthday or eating out with a friend who had forgotten? He decided company would be better than solitude.
"Nah, let's stop at Huggy's for a drink. Maybe a burger too?"
"All right, but let's not make it a late one. I think we could both do with an early night…Unless you got a date?"
"Nah, no date." Internally, Starsky added, "Because I figured we'd be doing something together." Out loud he asked, "You busy tomorrow? Want to do something?"
"Yeah, sure. I got a date in the evening though."
"Who with? Do I know her?"
"No, you don't know her. Her name's Roxy."
"Roxy? You on a date with a girl named Roxy? Where'd you meet her?"
"At the movie theatre."
"When?"
"What's with the inquisition?"
"I just wanna know when you had time to go to see a movie and meet a girl called Roxy? It wasn't this week. We've been doing overtime every night."
Hutch was saved from answering by their arrival at Huggy's. He got out of the car quickly and headed in to the bar ahead of his partner, signalling to Huggy as he did so.
Huggy grinned and then quickly hid behind his usual greeting.
"Beer?"
"Yeah, make it a pitcher."
"Coming right up. Anything to eat?"
"A burger with everything for my partner and a tuna burger for me," Hutch said.
With their order taken, Hutch led the way to the booth in the back. The waitress came over with their pitcher and two glasses, followed shortly by Huggy with their meals. Starsky tried to forget about his disappointment that no-one had remembered his birthday and just enjoy the evening.
Hutch only just smothered a smile when he caught Starsky sighing once or twice.
As they neared the end of their meal, Huggy appeared with two plates of apple pie and ice cream. One of them had a birthday candle stuck into it. As he reached their table, Huggy started singing, with Hutch joining in immediately.
"Happy Birthday to you."
Starsky's face was quickly covered by a huge smile. He blew out the candle and thanked Huggy, who told him the desserts were 'on him' before he made his way back to the bar. Starsky turned towards Hutch only to find his partner holding out an envelope towards him.
"Happy Birthday Gordo!"
"You didn't forget!"
"With all the hints last week? Of course not!"
Starsky grinned and tore open the envelope to find tickets to the Roxy Playhouse.
"Roxy!"
He inspected them closely. A seven thirty showing tomorrow night of King Kong, the hit movie that had come out the previous December.
"You keep telling me how good it is and, although you've seen it before, I figured you wouldn't mind seeing it again," Hutch explained. "Then I can see what all the fuss is about."
"Thanks pal. I mean it. I love that movie. I could watch it again and again. You're gonna love it!"
Hutch rolled his eyes as he said, "When you've seen one monster movie, you've seen them all."
He knew that statement would get his partner going and it did. Starsky went into a long explanation as to why monster movies were so great and this one in particular. Hutch listened patiently; happy to see that his friend was so excited about his present. One night of watching a monster movie would be worth it just to see the joy the thought of it had brought his partner on his birthday.