Surprise!

Surprise!

Jim’s birthday falls on July 4th. This year Susie was the cake baker and party host. So she made a most excellent chocolate cake, triple layered, with chocolate icing. She told everyone there was a surprise inside, she’d added it as she frosted the cake.

“If you find the surprise, you get extra ice cream!” That was the reward per Susie.

Everyone at the party oohed and aahed over the cake. It was perfection. Susie always could bake a beautiful cake. It looked almost too good to eat.

“So, I hope you find the surprise!” Another tease to everyone waiting.

“Candles. We need candles,” Miriam proclaimed. “Lot of candles. He’s ancient.”

“Now wait a minute, I resemble that remark,” chuckled Jim.

They all patted Jim on the back, reminded him of his antique ways, kidded him about his aches and pains while candles were sought, bought and placed on the cake.

Finally all forty candles were lit. Jim blew them out, to the tune of “Happy Birthday!”. All but one trick candle. It remained lit. He blew it out again. It relit. He tried again, and again. Finally they said, “Oh, let it go out on its own.”

Well, that trick candle had one more trick to pull. It found, then lit the fuse for the firecracker Susie had placed in the cake as a surprise.

Just as Harry took a piece of cake from Susie,

KABOOM!!! KABLOOEY!!!!

Chocolate went everywhere. And not just chunks of chocolate, but it was now chocolate spray. All over the dining room, the guests, the cowering dog under the table. Harry’s plate sailed like a frisbee into the kitchen.

“I guess you found the surprise, Jim!” Susie yelled. “Okay, everyone to the pool! Let’s clean off.”

While guests in soggy cake-covered clothes floated in the soon cake-infused pool, Susie called ‘Renew’, whose slogan was:

’We redo - so - You don’t have to!’

In a few hours, the house was as clean and neat as new.

Finally Susie announced there was ice cream for all! They were all winners.

Jim then pronounced it was his best birthday ever. “And by golly, if you have to turn forty on the 4th, then you might as well do it with a bang.”

Fun Fact ▼

As I wrote 'Kaboom!!! and Kablooey!!!! in the story, a Big Bang outside my house made me jump a foot. We laughed about the incongruity of that the rest of the night.