Wendell the dog awoke to the wonderful smell of summer.
Samantha the cat stretched and yawned. She could smell it too. "This is a perfect day for..."
"...going to the beach, right?" Wendell
...
[+]
With the candles dancing atop the cake, everyone waits silently for Jeffrey to make a
wish. He takes a deep breath and blows with all his might, through the windstorm the candles
continue to rhythmically sway left and right as they slowly start to extinguish one by one. With
15 extinguished, the final candle slowly begins to die out, with the tip still glowing, Jeffrey gives
a quick blow to ensure it's extinguished. Everyone applauds and cheers for him. His Mother and
Father stand behind him, she kisses Jeffrey on the cheek while he pats his son on the back.
"What did you wish for?" asks Mother. I wished that I could open my gifts already, "Son, just be
patient, ok" asks Mother. "Come on Honey, you know how excited he gets" said Dad. "Alright,
you can open up one gift" says Mother. Jeffrey rushes over to the stack of gifts awaiting him on
the table, after scanning the presents he chooses a medium length rectangular present. He tears
open the wrapping paper to discover a journal. "Open it up" says Mother. Jeffrey opens it to the
front page to see a message that states "Every good script starts with pen and paper" beneath it is
a cursive signature belonging to Orson Welles. This is incredible, how did you get this? "Well I
went online to the Welles estate and got in contact with one of his daughters, explained what a
fan you were, and they managed to transcribe one of his handwritten quotes onto the notebook"
says Mother. Jeffrey jumps up and immediately embraces his mother, for a while it is as if they
are the only two people in the room. "Honey, I think we should serve the cake now" says Dad.
The two end their embrace as mother goes to the kitchen to get a knife and plates. Jeffrey goes to
place the journal back on the table when he notices his mother's phone screen illuminating. He
looks around before seeing what is on the phone, he opens the phone to discover a text from
someone named Don. The text says "did he like the journal we got him?". Jeffrey puts the phone
down and goes to the kitchen. Mom, you got a text on your phone from somebody named Don.
Mother drops the knife on the countertop, the loud metal clang rings throughout the house.
"Everything alright honey?" asks Dad. "Everything's fine, Jeffrey just startled me" explains
Mother. "Go sit down and I'll be right there to cut the cake" says Mother. But Mom I- "Go sit
down now!" exclaims Mother.
Jeffrey exits the kitchen and rejoins everyone at the table, his father notices the puzzled
look on Jeffrey's face. "Everything ok son?" Dad asks. Mom just got a text on her phone, I
wanted to see who it was. "You know you're not supposed to read things not addressed to you"
says Dad. That's the thing, it was from someone named Don asking about the journal I got, I
thought it was someone from the Welles estate. Dad grows a puzzled look on his face, after a
moment he gets up and goes to the kitchen. He walks up behind her and slowly wraps his arms
around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. "That journal was one hell of a gift Hon." He
starts to kiss her neck, "How'd you get in contact with the estate?" Dad asks. Mother takes a
sharp breath, "I went online, it wasn't easy, but I managed to get in contact with the right
people." says Mother. "Was one of them-" asks Dad. "Honey I know what you're gonna ask, but
can we please do this later, at least not on Jeffrey's birthday with his friends here." says Mother.
With small tears forming in her eyes, Dad takes a deep breath and grabs the knife, "I'll cut the
cake" he says. As he prepares to leave the kitchen, she grabs him by the arm and pulls him in for
a kiss, when it ends, the two of them leave the kitchen together holding hands. "Ok now who
wants a corner piece?" asks Dad. Jeffrey's friends all argue over who gets the corner piece, while
Jeffrey calmly grabs a corner piece. While everyone silently eats their cake, Dad can't help but
stare knives into Jeffrey's mother as she puts the rest of the cake in the kitchen. It is as if he has
been piecing together the mystery of who Don is and is afraid of being correct about his
conclusions. After a long period of silence Jeffrey asks if he and his friends can go play outside.
"Honey I don't think that's such a good idea" says Mom. "Judy please, he's 16 now, let him have
fun with his friends." Dad says with a smirk on his face. Jeffrey and his friends rush out of the
house with their screams of joy following right behind them.
"Ok Judy, out with it...who's Don?" asks Dad. She takes a sharp breath and begins to cry.
"Eric, I just want you to know that I love you." Eric clenches his eyes shut as he takes a deep
breath. "Judy...tell me...who is Don?" Eric asks. The rampant emotions can be sensed from a
mile away, Eric's growing anger and Judy's growing fear. With all the strength in her body Judy
says "Don is...Don is an old...friend". Eric begins to slowly lose feeling in his entire body,
before Judy can continue he is already sitting on the floor resting against the wall. She crouches
down to his level and says "last year when I was visiting my parents for thanksgiving, we ran
into each other and grabbed a cup of coffee. One thing led to another...". With tears in his eyes
Eric hides his face in his palms, hoping that this is all a nightmare. Judy gets down on her knees
and begins to weep at Eric's feet, he quickly stands up and says "is Jeffrey even my son?" Judy
tries to calm Eric down by saying "You know he is", Eric grabs the leftover cake and throws it at
the wall asking "how do I know he's not from one of your exes?" Eric grabs his coat and heads
for the door, "Eric where are you going?" asks Judy. With tears still running down his face he
simply says "I can't be here right now". As Eric leaves the house Jeffrey approaches him and
asks where he's going. Eric looks at him and says "I just need to get away from here". Did I do
something? "No son, you did nothing, this is something between your mother and I" says Eric.
He gives his son a hug before leaving; Jeffrey can sense that this will be the last time he sees his
Dad.
Jeffrey tells his friends that something is up and that he can't hang out with them right
now. He enters his house and finds his mother sitting on the couch crying. Mom what happened?
Why did Dad leave? Why is my cake on the wall? Judy begins, "Jeffrey your Dad-." Is this about
that guy Don on your phone? Just hearing that sends his mother running for her room with her
cries echoing throughout the house. Jeffrey begins to smash the plates against the table, a small
cut forms on his hand and blood begins to cover his hand and the plates he's throwing. When the
rage stops, Jeffrey can hear the slight ringing in his ear, everything feels like it is in slow motion.
He grabs a plate and proceeds to scrape some cake off of the wall and onto his plate. With the
sun setting, Jeffrey sits at the table alone, with the blood slowly draining from his body he begins
to sing. "Happy Birthday...Jeffrey...Happy...birth...day...to...you". Judy exits her room and
sees the mess in the dining room; she rushes over to Jeffrey when she sees the blood. Judy feels
as though she can't move, she drops to her knees and weeps over her son.
The End.