Babsie glanced over from where she was eating lunch. She eyed the present warily. It was November. And not only was it November, but it was Isaac’s birthday. Babsie remembered waking up that morning. She had leaned over and given him a kiss.
“Morning birthday boy,” she said.
“Morning,” he smiled.
It had taken him exactly nine seconds to freak out:
“Oh my gosh! I’m forty!”
The kids had given him lots of cards that morning, as well as some presents. Taylor had come over earlier with his family, and they were now having a barbecue for lunch.
“Open it,” Taylor encouraged with a gleeful grin.
“Who’s it from?” asked Babsie suspiciously.
“Taylor and Zac,” Isaac replied with a knowing smile.
Isaac pulled away the wrapping paper and from the box he lifted:
“Ah ha! I knew it! The birthday cane!”
Taylor laughed while Babsie and Rita groaned. The birthday cane had started, well, ten years before when Isaac had turned thirty. That day, Taylor and Zac had given him a walking cane as a joke. On Taylor’s thirtieth, Isaac and Zac had decided to send the cane to him. And in turn, Isaac and Taylor gave the cane to Zac on his thirtieth.
“It only makes sense that they would give me the birthday cane on my fortieth,” Isaac explained.
“Here it comes,” Babsie whispered to Rita.
“Oh my gosh! I’m forty!”
The two women laughed.
“Come on Ike,” Babsie smiled. “I had my fortieth three months ago and I didn’t freak out.”
“Yeah, well, well, well, that’s because normal things that freak out normal people like me, don’t freak out, umm, not-so-normal people like you.”
“Since when were you ever normal?” Taylor asked Isaac.
“I’m more normal than you, Miss Jordan.”
“Oh, give it a rest.”
“No.”
“And why not?”
“There’s no fun in that whatsoever.”
“Well, you should know,” Taylor smiled. “You have forty years of experience.”
“Hey, who’s the one with the cane, romance-boy?”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me.”
“Hey,” Babsie spoke up. “Not in front of the kids.”
“Yeah, exactly,” Rita giggled.