Chapter 5

After a fun filled Friday evening that usually extends into early Saturday morning is a typical routine and this Saturday was no exception and when he woke up it was already half past noon! His cell phone was vibrating and had at least fifteen messages. Most of the messages were from the girls he met last night, few from his friends, he skipped through all of them and stopped when he got to the message from his sister. ‘Where the hell are you? You promised you will be on time’ and it went on and he suddenly remembered he was supposed to be at his niece’s birthday party half hour ago!, jumped out of his bed, rushed into the shower, shaved carefully but quickly without messing his French beard, got ready in less than twenty minutes, grabbed the present he had bought. He had got her a doll house, shopping a whole day until he found what she wanted and got it wonderfully wrapped and a nice huge hallmark card that plays ‘Happy Birthday’ when you open and was on his way, without a clue what was in store for him. The traffic was not too bad and he guessed he could make in half hour, hoping he was not going to be too late!

It was a small house in a nice neighborhood; the roads were a slightly winding but wide enough to double park and could see the balloons in front of the house and the cars parked on the street and kids running around in pretty cloths. He parked his car a couple of blocks away and walked over to the house and went straight in and she came running and hugged him and started talking and he could hardly hear what she was saying with the music playing on the background and kids screaming. His sister didn’t say a word, and the party went on well and he took his niece upstairs for a nap; before he could finish reading a story, she fell asleep hugging the card he gave her, right next to her doll house, kissed her gently on her forehead and came downstairs. His sister had cooked the whole meal with the help of some friends and was delicious. He helped her clean up in order to cool her off and talk a low blow, but to his surprise she seemed very happy and didn’t say a word about him being late.

After the guests had left he relaxed into the couch with his brother in law to watch some television, his sister joined them handing them, a cup of tea. ‘Did you notice the girl who was standing behind me while cutting the cake; she is works for a good company and is from a good family. I think she likes you, she was watching you from the time you walked into the door, and even enquired about you. She will be leaving for Canada shortly, why don’t you give her a call and talk to her; I can give you her number’. His brother-in-law who was silent all this time, joined and said ‘you are not getting any younger you know, maybe you should think about settling down some place’. This went on for a while but it was a one-way conversation and his mind was racing to find some reason to get out of there.