A Strange Day

By Mark

Mart awoke to the sun slipping through the crack in the curtain and shining right on his face. He tried to roll over, but it was no use. Finally, he stretched and sat up in bed, checking the time: 8:30. He needed to get up anyway. He and his friends were due at the stables by nine. Sure enough, the twin bed on the other side of the room that he shared with Brian had already been made. Brian’s probably already on his way to the stables, Mart thought to himself.

Deciding to forgo a shower until after he had exercised Strawberry, his favorite horse, he pulled on some clothes and headed downstairs.

"Morning, sleepyhead." His father was still reading the paper at the table, lingering over a final cup of coffee.

"Just morning?" Mart queried. It was June first, his sixteenth birthday. He had at least expected a "Happy birthday!" from his father.

"Sorry. Good morning."

Mart shook his head and walked into the kitchen. Dad had always been good with dates and special occasions. It was strange that he’d forgotten this one. Surely Moms would remember. "Good morning, Moms."

"Good morning, Mart," Helen replied. "Everyone else has already had breakfast, but I’ve been keeping yours warm for you. Pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs…."

"Hmmm, my favorite."

Moms smiled. "Glad you like it. Want to just eat it in here? I know you’re in a hurry to head out."

"Um, sure." Now Mart was confused. He took the offered plate and made his way to the small table the Belden family kept in the corner of the kitchen. Maybe he’d hit his head and only dreamed it was his birthday. He double-checked the date on his watch. Sure enough, it read Saturday, June 1. Pinching his arm proved he wasn’t in a dream.

He decided to draw his mom out a little. "Say, isn’t today a special day for some reason?" he asked between bites.

"It’s the last Saturday before your brother and Jim graduate from high school, if that’s what you mean. I can’t believe you only have a few days of school left for the year."

She wandered into the dinning room and started talking to her husband. Mart, more confused then ever, finished his breakfast and headed out toward the stables. What he didn’t see was his parents’ laughter as he left the house.

"It’s not often we get to pull one over on Mart like this," Mr. Belden said.

"Di certainly came up with a good idea. She’s so perfect for him," Mrs. Belden agreed.

"I just hope we can pull everything off all day." Mr. Belden went back to his paper.

Walking over to the stables, Mart marveled at the wonderful weather. It would be at least ninety degrees today for the third day in a row. Heck, maybe he could talk someone into swimming today. It was something he’d like to do for his birthday. And something he could do even if no one knew it was his birthday.

Mart was the first one to arrive at the stables. He found only Regan inside, fiddling with the tack in the tack room.

"Morning, Mart," the good-natured groom called out. "How are you today?"

"Doing great." Surely he remembers it’s my birthday. I am his nephew’s best friend. He helped celebrate Trixie’s birthday last month. "Anything special going on today?"

"Just the usual chores around here. Nothing out of the ordinary."

Just then Jim, Honey, Trixie, and Brian came in. They greeted Mart and started saddling their horses. It seemed just like any other ride they might be going on. In fact, they seemed ready to leave. But someone was still missing from the planned ride.

"Aren’t we going to wait for Di?"

"We forgot to tell you," Jim said. "Di called a little while ago to tell us she wouldn’t be able to make it. With Bobby over there, they need her to help keep on eye on all the kids."

The others led the way out on a trail. Mart brought up the rear. He and Di had just started dating a month ago. Does this mean I’m not even going to get to see my girlfriend on my birthday? He just couldn’t believe his friends and family would completely forget his birthday like this. Yet here he was. Maybe he’d wandered into The Twilight Zone or something. Sure felt like it anyway.

And so the rest of the day seemed to go. He called Di when they got back from the ride, and Harrison told him she was out with the children and didn’t know when she would return. Nobody said a word about things at lunch and everyone immediately split to do various activities all afternoon.

Dejected, Mart wandered out to Mr. Maypenny’s to see Dan. He found his friend exactly where he expected to find him, behind the cabin chopping wood.

"Why so glum, chum?" Dan called out when he caught sight of his friend.

By now, Mart was out to prove a point. "The day just hasn’t gone the way I thought it would, I guess."

Dan set down the ax. "How so?"

But Mart was on a mission to find someone who remembered his birthday without being reminded. "It’s nothing. Isn’t it early to be chopping wood?"

"It takes a lot of wood to keep that cabin warm during the winter. And we use it six months out of the year. If I didn’t get started now, we’d never have enough."

Dan picked up the ax and started chopping again. The two friends chatted about the final week of school and the upcoming summer vacation. Which classes they thought would have the hardest finals. Would they really miss anything about school once it was out for the summer. How they were going to have fun without any mysteries.

Finally, Dan set down his ax again. "I think this should do for today." He wiped his brow. "I could use a dip in the lake. Sound like a good idea to you?"

Mart’s face lit up. "Sounds wonderful."

"Then help me stack these logs and we can be off."

"I knew there was a catch here somewhere," Mart said. Still, he dug right in and soon was as hot as his friend.

When they were done, Dan dashed into the cottage. He came back out a few minutes later wearing his swim trunks and a backpack. "Let’s go."

They headed back to the Beldens’, where Mart changed. At least I’ll get to do one thing I wanted to do today. They kept up a steady conversation the entire way to the lake. As they rounded the final bend and could see the dock, Mart stopped cold.

Waiting for him on the dock were the rest of the Bob-Whites. A big banner hung between two trees screamed out "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MART" in big bold letters.

"Surprise!" all six friends shouted at once. Next thing he knew, he was up on Jim and Brian’s shoulders as the gang sang a round of "For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow." It ended with Jim and Brian shoving him from their shoulders into the lake. He came up sputtering but laughing.

"So you did remember," he called out as his friends rushed to join him in the lake.

"Of course! Did you really think we could forget something so big?" Di fluttered her eyelashes at him, then grinned and swam away.

They laughed and played in the water for a while, then got out onto the dock to dry off before changing.

"We’ve got a barbeque fit for a king waiting for us back at the house," Brian said. "As soon as you left to come up here, Moms started working like mad in the kitchen."

"So everyone was in on this?"

Trixie laughed. "My much-older brother. Doesn’t miss a thing, does he?" Mart stuck his tongue out at her as she continued, "Actually, it was Di’s idea. She thought it would be great if we really surprised you for your birthday."

"It really didn’t take much convincing," Di said. "Everyone seemed to want to pull a prank on you for your birthday. We invited Bobby over so he wouldn’t spill the beans once he knew. We didn’t even tell him until last night."

"Today was the hardest part," Jim chimed in. "Did you know I was following you out to Dan’s? We had to make sure you didn’t stumble on any preparations going on."

"Once you arrived, my job was to keep you in my sight at all times and make sure you didn’t get here before three," Dan said.

"So stacking the logs…?"

"They did have to be stacked. I just made sure the pile was big enough that there was no way we’d be early."

Trixie was still grinning. "All of us had plans for ways to distract you. I was going to ask for a vocabulary lesson for my English final." She shuddered.

Laughing, the gang started down toward Crabapple Farm. Mart reached down and grabbed Di’s hand. Suddenly, there were catcalls from their friends. Mart and Di were still such a new couple that everyone loved to give them a hard time every chance they could.

"Can’t a guy hold his girlfriend’s hand on his own birthday?"

Dan held his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay."

On the back patio at the Beldens’ was another banner. Mr. Belden was already grilling hamburgers and hot dogs on the. "Happy birthday, son."

Mrs. Belden came out with a pitcher of lemonade followed closely by Bobby. "Happy birthday," they said in unison and then laughed.

"So, were you surprised?" Mrs. Belden wanted to know.

"Was he?" Trixie said. "I thought his jaw would hit the ground when he saw the sign. It was wonderful!"

"I really thought everyone had forgotten my birthday."

Honey touched his shoulder. "We’d never do that."

Mart looked around at his family and friends and smiled. I guess today didn’t turn out to be so strange after all, Mart said to himself.

The End

The characters are not mine, the locations aren’t mine. All that is mine is what I made the characters do.