With her birthday fast approaching, Amy couldn't help but wonder what her roommates were planning to do. She shares a room with two friends, Moira from the Netherlands, and Debbie from Nigeria, and both have a reputation for creating extravagant and odd surprises for Amy's birthday.
"Debbie is crazy sometimes," Amy said, "But Moira, she's crazy every day."
Amy couldn't help but feel nervous when she went downstairs for the coffee break, wondering if her roommates had sprung a trap of humiliation...but the half hour break passed without incident.
Perhaps she'd won this year. Moira had asked what she wanted for her birthday, and Amy answered something impossible, something even Moira's creativity couldn't achieve, to be made into a superhero with the power to fly.
Amy returned to class, relieved that no one had so much as mentioned her birthday in front of the whole community. The lessons continued until five minutes before lunch break, when Cecelia stood up and, for some unexplained reason, required everyone to participate in a clapping game.
Smiling uncomfortably, Amy participated, not realizing that she herself was giving the signal that would set into motion Moira's plan of birthday humiliation and despair. The classroom door opened, and footsteps ascended the stairs. Then something came flying into the room.
It was a bird. It was a plane. NO...it was Moira and Debbie dressed like superheroes.
They had made a birthday cake, decorated with Amy's very loved, most favorite animal--a cat.
Amy bore the humiliation well, but couldn't help feeling slightly bitter that Moira and Debbie were the superheroes when she was the one who had wished that for her birthday. Little did she know, they had another superhero costume waiting for her, which they gave her during the afternoon staff meeting.
Moira's Birthday Mania has struck again, to the satisfaction of everyone involved.
Well, I am Amy, and I have a few things to add. It is important to know that deep in the recesses of my imagination I have many times envisioned what it would be like to fly. However, for multiple reasons I never quite managed it in real life. In spite of this, a few years ago I thought of an alternative plan that would satisfy the desire- a HOT AIR BALLOON RIDE! Since then I dreamed of riding on one, fascinated by the fire, colors and sheer size of a giant balloon floating in the sky with humans inside. It seems almost as surreal as flying.
ReplyDeleteTo add to the story written above, soon after being dressed as a superhero during staff meeting, a white envelope was presented to me as a gift. The others watched with anticipation as I slowly peered inside, in disbelief I read: This voucher is good for ONE HOT AIR BALLOON RIDE! Still in shock, my mind franticly trying to decipher between imagination and reality, I managed to get out the words...ttthhhh-aa-n-kk y-ooo-u! Best birthday present EVER. Thank you everybody :) from Amy