Jimmy's Birthday Party

The following is a story written based on this picture

The sun had barely risen when Janine abruptly woke, the cause being little Jimmy jumping onto the bed, yelling excitedly, “Today I’m six! Today I’m six!”

As tired as she was, she couldn’t help but laugh at her little tow-headed son. “That’s right, party boy!” Janine fixed him a quick breakfast and then shooed him outdoors to play so she could get ready for his party. She was ever so thankful it was a sunny day.

By 11 a.m., Jimmy’s little guests began arriving. His cousins, Steven, age seven; and Amy, age five, each wished Jimmy a happy birthday and handed him his presents. He wanted to open them right then and there, but his mom insisted he wait until everyone arrived.

The neighbor children, Sarah who was nine-years-old and her little sister, Suzie, age three, were the last to arrive about twenty minutes later.

Mother gathered them all into the backyard to play some games. First came “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” followed by “Hide and Seek” and several healthy games of “Tag.”

When some of their gleeful energy had subsided, Mother directed all the children to the yard, just off the patio, where a small table and chairs had been set up for the children to eat.

Knowing Jimmy would want to play with whatever he was receiving for birthday presents, Janine insisted the children have lunch first. It wasn’t anything fancy…just Sloppy Joes, a bowl of mixed fruit pieces and a juice box for each child. She cautioned them to not eat too much so they could “save room for a piece of cake!”

The children seemed to “inhale” their food, in an apparent hurry to get to the cake and ice cream. A short time later, seeing that the children had eaten their food, Mother put the now empty paper plates in a trash bag and washed the table off to serve the birthday cake.

Out she came with a white cake, decorated with yellow. Jimmy quickly blew out the six green candles and his mother allowed Jimmy to help place the cake slices onto plates for each of his birthday guests. Being the proper “gentleman” he served the girls first, followed by his cousin Steven.

The children, as expected, considered this to be the best part of the meal. Suzie, being three, was in that “Don’t help me” stage, so by the end of the meal the other children laughed when her sister commented, “Suzie, I think you are wearing more of your cake than you have eaten!”

When the children were all done eating, Mother quickly cleaned off the table and told them to stay seated while she brought Jimmy’s presents out for him to open.

Jimmy eyed the presents thoughtfully, wondering which one he should open first. In the end he closed his eyes and opened whichever one his hand happened to touch. With having a birthday in summer, it was nearly like having a second “Christmas.”

In the box from his cousin Steven, his eye’s grew wide to find a new baseball glove and baseball, and to make it even better, when he opened the gift from his other cousin, it contained a new baseball hat.

Sarah, his neighbor, gave him a deck of “magic cards” and her little sister, Suzie, gave him a new box of crayons with a coloring book.

With all his gifts now opened, Jimmy’s glee was apparent. As his mom came out to clean up, he gave her a big hug and said, “Thanks Mom, this has been a great birthday.”


Word Count: 596