Chapter Six - Alex's Party

I couldn’t believe it; today of all days was Alex’s birthday! What were the odds? I suppose one in three hundred and sixty five, but they seemed astronomical. It was a fact, though. Alex and I had the same birthday. Even Mom and Dad were concerned when they got the news. They thought I would freak out! I was going to protest, but the only thing I managed to say when they were on the phone was “Don’t tell them about mine.” Now here I was on my eleventh birthday walking over to someone else’s party with my Mom and Dad.

“Hey buddy.” Dad smiled, patting my reassuringly atop my hat. “You holding up okay?”

“Yeah…” I peeped

“I know you don’t want to steal Alex’s spotlight, so don’t worry. We won’t tell anyone.” Dad repeated the promise I had made them both make. I had been quite insistent. There was no way I was going to let them near the party if they were going to blab.

“How long has it been since you had a birthday party on your birthday?” Mom asked, trying to get me to remember.

I frowned. It wasn’t like I hated my birthday or anything, and I wasn’t keeping it a secret for Alex’s sake either - though that’d been what I told my parents. In reality, she would probably be delighted to learn we shared a birthday. I knew that any focus on my birthday would just invite questions from the kindies about my real age, however. It had been weeks and I had so far managed to avoid ever answering that question directly. Sometimes I wondered just exactly how old everyone thought I was. I was just as tall as he was, but at times Charlie would treat me as if I was simply an unusually large five year old. It wasn’t such a crazy conclusion to draw. I was still lumbered with a brown tail, after all

I shrugged to my Mom. “I don’t know. Like second or third grade?” I said, probably too quickly. Honestly though, my last birthday party was a disaster etched into my mind. Despite our regular moves always leaving me feeling like the perpetual new kid, I had invited everyone from my class for my birthday parties - like always! Everyone thinks summer birthdays are going to be awesome with pool parties and playing in the sun, but that year it seemed like everyone had forgotten about mine. Perhaps it had been because I had given out the invitations on the last day of school. That’s what mom had said, trying to console me. Still, I remember sitting in the backyard making sure all the decorations were set up and waiting for my second grade class to arrive. After an hour, Mom and Dad stopped calling people and we packed everything up. That was when I decided - no more birthday parties. “Why bring that up?” I asked Mom, a little hurt.

“It’s just nice that you get to go to one.” Mom said fondly. “You had nothing else planned today anyway.”

I scoffed at my Mom’s comment. I would have planned something if it wasn’t for Alex’s party. Last year was my tenth birthday, double digits! Not having a party is way better! It means the day is about me, and not entertaining my bored classmates. The day was perfect. We started with a special birthday breakfast at a restaurant; it was like eating dessert first thing in the morning. Then we went to the mall. It was a bit silly, but not having a party meant I got to do whatever I wanted. One thing I always wanted was my own Build-A-Bear. Can you imagine a store that only sells teddy bears? I was fascinated by it. We must have spent hours in there until I finally picked out the perfect teddy. I even picked out a boy scout outfit for him. I felt a little embarrassed to be seen carrying my new toy all throughout the science museum with me, but I had been working on a badge at the time and needed to visit one. It was a perfect birthday - just me, Mom, Dad and my new bear. Plus, I got a badge out of it. I still have that teddy bear of course. I finally found him in a moving box. He sits on my dresser now.

Finally, we turned off onto the driveway of a large house on the corner of the road; a fancy columned portico framing a huge cherry red front door. If I was honest, I was a little surprised. Alex was always so scruffy, turning up to every Beaver meeting in her same ratty old moth eaten vest, but this house was huge - a mansion almost! I stuffed my hands awkwardly into my own beaver uniform, feeling a little self-conscious to be wearing it walking around town. It was hardly a surprise that Alex had instituted a dress code for the birthday party. She was practically obsessed with all things Beaver! If we were at a meeting, I was always Rascal - and she was always Ringtail. It had gotten to the point where she didn’t answer to anything else.

I climbed the steps, knocking on the big brass knocker. I was surprised however when the door was answered by none other than Ms. Diaz!

“Hi there, Cooper!” she grinned, looking down adoringly. She was prim and professional as ever, her neat ponytail selling the look even in a faded pink tank top and mom jeans.

“What are you doing here?” I blurted out, realizing how rude I’d sounded as soon as the words had left my lips. “I mean…” I backtracked “Are you staying for the party?”

“I live here, silly!” Ms Diaz chuckled, blessedly seeming entirely unoffended.

I furrowed my brow, still confused. “Alex lives with you and Charlie?”

“Not quite. We’re just having the party here.” I nodded, though I still didn’t quite understand. It seemed a little strange for Charlie’s mom to host Alex’s birthday! Couldn’t her own parents do it? Or parent I guess. I vaguely remembered Alex mentioning something about her mom not being around anymore. “Come in, come in.” Ms. Diaz enthused, ushering me forward. My parents followed just behind, exchanging idle grown-up chatter as I continued to stare straight forward - puzzling over the unusual party venue. I hardly noticed as Ms Diaz knelt down to undo the zip on my Beaver vest, threading out my arms and hanging it on the coat rack as if I were a incompetent baby. “Alex and Charlie are out playing in the yard, sweetie.” she prompted me, retrieving my clumsily wrapped gift from inside my vest pocket. “I’ll put this with the others.”

I nodded, leaving the grown-ups behind and tottering through the well appointed corridors and across the polished hardwood floors towards the backdoor. The gift was a whole other kettle of fish. The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that Alex wouldn’t like it. It was much too girly! Of course, I knew Alex was a girl - but she wasn’t a girl girl. A friendship bracelet kit? What was I thinking? Really I hadn’t been thinking at all - it had all been mom’s idea. We’d been wandering around the toy shop for a good hour when she’d finally made the decision for me.

“It’s perfect.” she’d assured “I would have loved something like this when I was seven. I’m sure she’ll have tons of fun making bracelets for your whole little group!”

As I passed by an intricate arch leading to the kitchen, I noticed that there was a huge burly man wearing a faded motorcycle t-shirt sitting at the breakfast table sipping a huge mug of black coffee. I looked at him curiously, until I noticed his short cropped electric orange hair and put two and two together. This must have been Alex’s dad! He glanced at me, catching me staring.

“Hey, bud.” he smiled, politely enough - though his voice was as gruff and gravelly as a sharpened boulder. “Party’s out back,”

I nodded, hiding my eyes bashfully below the brim of my beaver hat as I scurried away. No wonder Alex was so brusque!

The yard looked rather festive, clutches of balloons tied to the fence posts and multicolored streamers hanging loosely across the back of the house. The only thing that seemed missing were people; the yard completely empty apart from Leo humming softly to himself as he bounced a pale pink balloon on his palm, and Alex and Charlie chatting idly as they sat on the steps of the deck.

“Hi Alex, Happy Birthday!” I cheerily greeted.

“Cooper!” The both of them shouted. Alex stood up and rushed over, wrapping her arms around my neck. “Thanks for coming!”

“Yeah, of course.” I told her. I was invited after all. “Where is everyone?” I looked at Charlie who was frantically waving his arms, as if trying to tell me to stop talking.

“They didn’t come.” Alex said, finally letting go of me. “Dad told me to invite everyone from school, but only the Kindies promised to come.” She smiled at me and punched my arm. “More cake for us, right?” She grinned.

“Right.” I said with a tremble in my voice. This whole situation sounded all too familiar.

Alex grabbed my hand and brought me into the yard. “What do you think Rascal, shouldn’t the leader of the Kindies be both Charlie and me now?” She announced.

“Leader of the Kindies?” I questioned. Was that even a thing?

“Well think about it! Charlie is seven, and now I’m seven too!” Alex explained her reasoning.

Charlie rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t work like that.” He scoffed. “I’m a white tail and you’re still a blue tail.”

“What do you think Cooper?” Alex demanded.

What did I think? If it was purely an age thing, then I would be the leader of the Kindies by a long shot. I looked between them feeling my own brown tail flutter from side to side on the back of my hat. It would have been easier to just say that Charlie was leader, but it was Alex’s birthday.

Before I could answer I was cut off by the sliding glass door opening again. Out toddled Laurie, rushing to meet his friends in the backyard. Zach was close behind him, leaning casually on the doorway. “Are we the last to arrive?” Zach asked, clearly trying to get the same information I had wanted - albeit with a little more tact.

“Yup, everyone is here now.” Alex shouted as she grabbed Laurie’s arms and started to spin around with him. The little boy let out a heartening chorus of giggles, oblivious to the decidedly poor attendance.

Zach visibly winced; the backyard had clearly been set up for more than just four kids. “Mind if I join?” He asked the birthday girl.

Alex let go of Laurie, steadying his shoulders to let him regain his balance before she bounced over to Zach. “Yes.” She shrieked. “Of course you can stay.” She snatched his hand, dragging him over to take a seat at the festive table that had been setup.

We joined them, and soon enough the four parents started to file out into the backyard; all chatting amongst themselves. It was both my parents, along with Alex’s Dad and Ms. Diaz. Alex’s Dad was carrying a birthday cake with seven lit candles on it, the parents leading us in a merry rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’. I had to admit it was nice hearing the song on my birthday - even if it wasn’t for me.

Alex hopped up and down excitedly in her seat at the head of the table, giving an exaggerated blow of air to extinguish the candles as everyone clapped for her. Ms. Diaz took charge of serving out the slices of cake while Alex’s Dad handed her some gifts from her small pile he had gathered on the table.

“To Alex, from Charlie.” She read from the tag on the first gift and tore into the wrapping paper revealing a black and yellow pair of walkie talkies. She gasped in delight when she saw it. “This is awesome!” She shrieked and held them above her head for all to see. Why didn’t I think of that? Walkie talkie seemed like a perfect gift!

She carefully placed the gift beside her and grabbed the next one. “To Alex, from Laurie and Zach.” She chirped.

“Oh, I didn-'' Zach tried to interject.

“Thank you!” Alex interrupted him and he let it go. She ripped the paper and showed everyone a pair of binoculars. They were actually pretty cool.

Then came my gift. I held my breath in anticipation. The last two had both seemed so perfect for Alex, and mine was just some silly girly craft. She picked up the gift and read the tag. “To Ringtail, from Rascal.” She chirped with a grin on her face. Putting our beaver names on the tag was a last minute decision. I thought it would be a fun inside joke, butI hadn’t expected her to actually read it out! Alex tore open the poorly wrapped gift and fished out the friendship bracelet kit from inside. She studied it with curiosity.

“I like it.” Alex announced, to my surprise. She didn’t shriek or call it amazing, but at least she was being polite about it. I finally exhaled, giving a humble shake of my head.

The last gift was in a simple paper gift bag without even a tag attached. Alex threw the paper away to reveal a hand carved and painted raccoon statue. There was a solemn silence as Alex inspected it close in front of her face, heavy emotion visibile in her eyes - though I wasn’t quite sure if it was sadness or delight. “Thank you Daddy.” She said softly and carefully placed it beside the other gifts. She collected herself, putting on a big smile. “Can we go now?”

“Go?” I asked, a little confused. “Go where?”

“To the Beaver lodge!” she enthused. “I asked Taylor, and he said we could go on our quest to earn the community badge today! That’s why we got our uniforms on!”

Ms. Diaz gave an uneasy frown. “Already? Don’t you want to have your party first?” she waved a hand around the empty yard “I could put on some music, or we could play a game…”

“Why?” Alex interrupted, “It’s not like anyone else came.” There was an uneasy silence, the kids and grown-ups all exchanging worried looks. The birthday girl herself looked entirely unbothered however. “What?” she demanded, puncturing the silence. “Everyone I wanted is here. Let’s go on our quest!”

Alex’s Dad let out an awkward chuckle. “Honestly Bianca, it’s alright. She’s been talking about this community badge all week.”

“Well…” Ms. Diaz hummed, clearly still a little concerned “If you say so, Ross.”

“Cool!” Alex enthused. “This is gonna be so awesome.”

I exchanged a perplexed look with my fellow beaver scouts. Charlie and Laurie looked just as out of the loop as I was, though. Even my parents looked a little surprised at how quickly and completely this seven year old girl had taken charge of her own birthday party.

“So what are we doing?” Charlie finally asked.

“The beaver handbook says we have to do something to help our community.” Alex lectured, jumping up on her seat like a grizzled general giving a speech before battle.

“Yeah, that’s right.” Charlie confirmed. “I’m pretty sure the Bobcats gave out lemonade or something.”

“Are we making lemonade?” Laurie interrupted through a bite of birthday cake, green eyes rising hopefully at the possibility of earning himself another sweet treat.

“Nope.” Alex smirked. “Even better!”

My fellow brown tail seemed to grow even more excited. “Then what?”

“You’ll see!” She jumped off her chair, sprinting across the lawn “Come on.” she ushered us forward “To the beaver lodge!”

Laurie let out an excited yip, sticking his fist forward as if to imitate a superhero as he pursued the birthday girl across the lawn. Charlie went behind without a second thought, while I shot my parents a perplexed glance - as if asking permission to follow. My mom tittered, giving me a big thumbs up.

“Go with them, won’t you Zachary?” Ms. Diaz asked, shooting the reluctant ten year old an encouraging smile. “I don’t want them to get lost.”

He gave a heavy sigh, but forced a polite nod all the same. “Fine.” he acquiesced, marching up behind me and grabbing presumptuously a hold of my hand. “Come on, Cooper.” he instructed, yelling out after the other beavers “Slow down!” he commanded with all the authority of a proper cub scout Keeo “And stay on the sidewalk!”