Surprise!!!

Surprise!!!

Prompt: Write a short story or poem about having to plan a birthday party for someone you just can't stand.


It was a wonderful party!  I normally dislike birthday parties, even ones for kids; maybe especially ones for kids.  All that screaming and sticky all over everything.  Come to think of it, I’m not all that fond of any party.

That fact was foremost in my mind on the day my mother-in-law called me.  She wanted to give a surprise birthday party for my sister-in-law, but didn’t have the time to plan it herself.  As Mommy Dearest put it, “After all, dear, it’s not as though you actually work.  You are at home all the time, aren’t you?”

I sighed.  None of Jack’s family understood what I did for a living.  To them, writing science fiction and fantasy books was on a par with building sand castles on the beach; something you did for fun, but it wasn’t really serious.  Never mind the fact that I had 12 titles to my name, and the last one made the NYT Bestseller List.  To my husband’s mother and sister, it was just a ‘cute, little hobby.’

Grudgingly, I agreed to plan the party, which would, of course, be held at our place ‘because you have so much more room, dear.’  Mommy Dearest agreed to drop off a list of the people she thought should be invited, and then she’d let me handle it from there.  Yeah, right.

After weeks of working hard, I finally had all the arrangements made.  I knew this was going to be a night that Suzanne (“please don’t call me Sue”) would remember for a long time.

The night started with MD, Suzanne, Jack and I heading out to Suzanne’s favorite restaurant.  Naturally, Jack and I got to pick up the tab and just as naturally Suzanne and MD ordered the most expensive items on the menu.  I ate very little that meal, concentrating on keeping a big smile on my face as Suzanne kept urging me to “try things out at my advertising agency, Jennifer, dear.  Don’t you think it’s time you got a real job?”

All the way back to the house Jack kept glancing at me, trying to figure out why my smile was real now.  Finally, he couldn’t stand it any longer and demanded for me to ‘give.’

I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing. 

“Honey, your Mom and Suzanne think we’re going back to the house for a few drinks, right?  And we’re going to go in and everyone is going to yell ‘Surprise!’ right?

A slow, suspicious “Yeah” answered me, and I laughed even harder.

“What did you do, Jen?”

“Just invited a few extra people, honey,” I said with my best innocent face.  “And I just gave directions on what people were to wear...a costume party of a sort.”

“Uh, huh.  Like who?  And what kind of costumes?”

I giggled as I thought about the future looks on my snobbish, name-dropping in-law’s faces.

“Stop giggling and tell me what you did.”

I told him, and soon he was laughing, too.

By the time we got home, we’d both gotten our serious faces back on.  We all went inside.  Suzanne had just taken off her coat when I opened the door into the family room and everyone yelled “Surprise!!!” 

Every guest was dressed as a character from one of my books.  We had elves, warriors, mages and a multitude of other of my characters, all standing around Suzanne, telling her Happy Birthday.  The glare she shot me was priceless.

But the best part of the evening was still to come.  I had told the rest of the family that a producer had contacted my agent about making a movie of one of my books, but I hadn’t told anyone that I’d invited him to the party.  The looks on their faces were everything I had imagined when I introduced them to him in his mage robes.  Even they recognized the distinctive features of Steven Spielberg.

By the way, I never got taunted about my ‘cute, little hobby’ again.


Word Count: 667