Birthday Surprise

Written for "The Writer's Cramp"  sixth birthday week
Prompt:Birthdays are magical times when wishes come true. Write a short story or poem about a birthday wish coming true.

Word count: 997

Joey sat at the table with his eyes shut as Mom brought out his birthday cake. "Okay, make a wish and blow out the candles!"

Joey opened his eyes, said "Okay!" and then blew out all six candles on his zoo-themed cake in one breath. He turned toward his dad, and asked, "If I blow them all out, my wish will come true, right?"

His dad smiled and said, "Of course. Remember, though, sometimes wishes take a while to come true."

"That's okay, Daddy. As long as it comes true."

His dad cut the cake, handing pieces to the six other boys at the table bouncing with anticipation. He said to Joey, "You want the elephant piece, I guess?"

"Yeah! If I tell you my wish, it won't come true, will it?"

"Sure it will. What did you wish for?"

"A real live elephant!"

"Really? That one might take a very long time." his dad said, "But I think you'll like some of your presents."

Soon everyone went out to see Joey open his gifts. There was a jungle playset, some trucks, and a big remote-controlled elephant robot.

Joey was thrilled. He said "Wow, it's not a real elephant, but it can do stuff! Neat!"

Everyone got to try the new elephant, making it walk and trumpet and pick up things with its trunk clamp. The party was a huge success, and Joey fell asleep happy, his elephant tucked into bed with him.

The next morning, Joey was up early. He went downstairs to play with his new toys. He glanced out the window and stopped, stunned. There was a small elephant in his backyard, pulling plums off the tree and popping them into its mouth. Joey's eyes became saucers as he ran upstairs to tell his parents about his birthday miracle.

"Mommy! Daddy! Wake up! There's an elephant!"

"Yes, honey," his mom said, yawning, "we know, we gave it to you last night. Go on downstairs, we'll be down in a minute. You want pancakes?"

Joey's dad was just waking up now. "What's the matter?"

Again Joey said, "There's an elephant outside eating the plums!"

His dad laughed, "Okay, we'll be down in a minute."

Joey stood for a moment looking confused, wondering why his parents weren't excited. Maybe they had gotten him a real elephant. He ran back downstairs to make sure it was still there. It was. Joey looked around the kitchen, spying a bunch of bananas on the counter. He had seen zookeepers toss in big bunches of bananas to the elephants in the zoo, they were a lot bigger bunches of bananas, but those were a lot bigger elephants, too. He grabbed the bunch and quietly opened the door. He knew that most animals were scared of people, so he moved slowly toward the elephant, stopping about ten feet away and held out the bananas. The elephant saw him and watched warily. it reached out its trunk and sniffed the air. It then took hesitant steps toward Joey with its trunk outstretched. It grasped the bunch and enfolded it into its mouth with a crunch and grunt of delight. Joey slowly moved toward the elephant, while it kept its eye in him, only shying a bit when Joey reached out to touch the elephant's ear.

Meanwhile, Joey's mom came downstairs and started to put on some coffee when she looked out the window. She dropped the coffee can, screamed, and ran to open the back door. She stopped, watching in horror as her six-year-old son reached out to touch an elephant. An elephant. She knew she shouldn't scream, because the elephant might hurt Joey, but the effort not to was challenging.

Dad was at the bottom of the stairs when he saw his wife, pale and frightened. He asked, "What's the matter?"

She turned and hissed, "There really is an elephant. Joey's out there with it, and I don't want to scare it into hurting him!"

Joey's dad made a face of disbelief, she couldn't be serious. "Let me see." He looked out just as the elephant nuzzled Joey's hair with his trunk. "Good grief. There's a baby elephant in the yard. Why didn't you say so?"

Joey's mom looked daggers at her husband. "So, what do we do?"

"I guess we go on out... Slowly." They edged out the door and watched the boy and elephant play for moment. Then his dad said, "Joey, are you okay?"

Joey started, as did the elephant. Joey said, "Mom, Dad, this is the greatest present ever! You got me a real elephant!"

Mom and Dad looked at one another. Mom recovered first. She said, "Son, we didn't get you a real elephant. Regular people can't get elephants to keep at home."

He said, "Then where did this one come from? Didn't it come because of my wish?"

Dad frowned, Joey would be devastated, but he had an idea. Smiling, he said, "Yes, son, it came exactly because of your wish. It came to help you celebrate your birthday, but just like all your other friends, it has to go back home to its parents because it's just a baby. Come on, we'll get some lettuce and stuff for it and wait for its parents to come."

So that's what they did. Joey got to spend a couple of hours with his own elephant, closely supervised, of course, and the elephant got to eat most of the vegetables in Joey's house. They got lots of great pictures, since who would believe Joey had an elephant for his birthday? Finally, the traveling circus that Leelee, the elephant, had wandered away from, came to get her, and they gave Joey and his parents free passes, along with all the boys that were at Joey''s party. Joey got to ride on Leelee's mom's back and he remembered this as his best birthday ever. At least until he turned sixteen and got a car, anyway.