by Brian Rowe
“Is that Auntie’s car in the driveway?” Cam Jr. asked.
“You bet!”
Liesel pulled her electric-fueled Hybrid up the driveway, and stepped out to see the now nineteen-year-old Kimber Martin holding a birthday cake in her hands, slowly walking up toward them.
“Hi Kimber,” Liesel said, slamming her car door.
“Auntie!” the boy shouted, running up and jumping into Kimber’s arms.
“Look at you!” Kimber said. “You’re getting so big! How old are you today?”
The boy lifted five fingers.
“Five?”
“Mmm hmm.”
Kimber gave Liesel a brief hug. “Sorry I’m late.”
“Oh, no, no,” Liesel said. “We just got back from our bike ride.”
“Oh… you mean…”
Liesel nodded.
“Wow,” Kimber said. “So you finally took him there.”
“Yeah, I figured today was the day.” She smiled at her son, then brought her eyes back up to Kimber. “How’s school going?”
Kimber shrugged. “Well, since the oldest professor at the university is just four years older than I am, I can’t say it’s ideal. But it’s fine, I guess. I’m glad I’m taking business with Professor Whitmore, instead of world history with a guy three years younger than me.
“Professor Whitmore?” Liesel asked. “You mean Aaron, right?”
“Yeah. Finally got his certificate to teach. He’s amazing.”
“You dating anyone? I feel like I haven’t seen you in awhile.”
“Nobody yet,” Kimber said. “This dumb kid Casey keeps asking me out, but I don’t know… I’m kind of happy being single at the moment.”
“Good,” Liesel said. “Me too. Here, let me help you with the cake.”
“Oh no, I got it. Should we head inside?”
“Yeah.” Liesel turned to her son. “Hey Cam, can you open the door for Auntie?”
“Sure thing, Mom!” her boy shouted at the front door.
Kimber, Liesel, and Cam Jr. made their way into the house, which was small but perfect for the mother and son. Liesel had become head manager at a brand new restaurant in town called JJ’s, after switching, finally, from Uncle Tony’s, where she had been promoted to manager soon after all the stores and restaurants started opening again in the fall of 2013. The new job paid enough for her mortgage, for food, for her child’s well-being, and then some—she had taken Cam Jr. on his first vacation this year, to Washington D.C.
“You wanna set the cake down on the kitchen table?” Liesel asked Kimber.
“OK.” Kimber plopped the cake in the center of the glass table and put out four forks, napkins, and plates.
Cam Jr. clapped his hands together, taking a moment to pet and kiss the now eleven-year-old Cinder, who looked eager for a treat, and pointed at the cake. “Is that chocolate?”
“Triple decker chocolate,” Liesel said. “Your favorite.” Her son clapped some more as she stepped forward and pointed to the corner of the living room, where nearly a dozen birthday gifts were sprawled out all over the carpet.
“How many can I open now, Mom?” Cam Jr. asked, already racing over to the presents.
“Just one,” she said. “Your first gift is the best one of all, and it’ll be here any second.”
“The best one first? What are you, crazy?”
Liesel just smiled, and the smile grew bigger when she heard the car pulling up in the driveway.
“He’s here!” Liesel said and walked to the front door. She turned to the right. “Hey Kimber, can you turn on the TV?”
She smiled. “Of course.”
Liesel opened the door to see twenty-four-year-old Wesley, looking sharp in a long-sleeved shirt and slacks, a small wrapped gift in his hands.
“Wow!” Liesel said. “Wes, you didn’t have to get dressed up.”
“I wanted to,” he said. “This is a special night.”
“Wesley!” Cam Jr. shouted.
“Hey buddy!” Wesley and Cam Jr. high fived each other. “How’s my favorite little guy doing?”
“I’m not little anymore,” the boy said. “I’m five now.”
“Five years old?”
“Yep!”
“I don’t believe it!”
The boy snagged the gift out of Wesley’s hands. “Is this your present?”
“It sure is,” Wesley said.
“Thank you, Wes! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” The boy turned to his mother. “Mom, can I open it?”
Liesel and Wesley exchanged knowing glances. Wesley looked at the point of crying, while Liesel just nodded.
“Yes, you can, Cam,” she said. “This is the big one. This is the surprise.”
The group of four all got comfortable on the black leather couch that faced Liesel’s brand new HD television set, which had been recently upgraded, mostly for this special moment.
“Should I open it now?” the boy asked.
Liesel took a deep breath. “Open it now.”
He destroyed the wrapping in two seconds time. He examined the gift, and furrowed his brow, confused.
“Uhh,” he said. “Is this… uhh… a VDV, Mom?”
“It’s a DVD, Cam,” Liesel said. “It was popular back about ten years ago, before everything went digital.”
“Oh, I see,” he said. “Well… what’s on it?”
Liesel turned to her right to see Kimber’s eyes already turning red with tears. Then she looked at Wesley, the only one in the room who had seen the contents of the DVD.
“Cam,” Liesel said, “put it in the player below the TV.” Liesel had been meaning to get rid of her player for a while, but the waiting for this special night had made her keep it.
“OK,” he said, setting the disc on the tray and pushing it in. The boy jumped back up on the couch, bringing his head down to his mom’s shoulder.
The main menu was just a black screen, with the word PLAY in the middle.
“Wes,” Liesel said, “you want to hit PLAY?”
“OK,” he said. “Here goes.”
He pressed PLAY on the remote control, and the video started running. It was blackness for the first few seconds, and then an image popped up on the screen. The image was that of a chair in front of a green screen, but soon, a person entered the frame and started removing the green screen. When the green was gone, the person in the frame turned around, revealing a very old Wesley from June 2013.
“Mom, what is this?” the boy asked.
“Shh…” she said. “Just watch.”
There was no movement for a moment. But then, from the left side of frame, Cameron Martin entered, sitting down on the chair, looking straight into the camera, bringing his hands down to his knees.
“Are you recording?” Cameron said in the video.
“Uhh, yeah,” a raspy Wesley said off-screen.
“OK.” Cameron shifted himself in his seat, then drew his eyes back to the camera lens. “Uhh… this is gonna be quick… but I wanted to say a little something now, just in case something happens to me today…” He licked his lips and swallowed loudly, trying to smile. “This is a message for my unborn son or daughter. Liesel, or Wesley, if you ever see this tape, and I’m no longer with you, I want you to show my child this on his or her fifth birthday. I think that would be the appropriate time…”
“Mom,” Cam Jr. asked on the couch. “Is that… is that… Dad?”
She just nodded. “Shh… keep watching, honey.” Liesel wiped some tears from her eyes and brought her attention back to the screen.
Cameron continued. “I just wanted to say… that even though I never got to know you… even though I never got to meet you… that you will always be with me. I’ve done a lot of dumb things in my life… at times, even I couldn’t believe the choices I made, to get me to this moment. But one of the best choices I ever made was loving your mother… and now… I know it… the best thing that ever could’ve happened to me… was you.”
Kimber started crying uncontrollably, while Liesel didn’t hide the fact that she was sobbing, too. She looked down at her son, who wasn’t crying, so much as taking in every word his father was saying.
“To my son or daughter… I want to say this… be strong… be brave… and be selfless. Don’t be like I was. For so many years… I wasn’t the person I could’ve been. Take charge… be a leader… stay away from those that are negative, who make you do things you don’t want to do. I want you to be a good kid, OK? I want you to be the best son or daughter I ever could’ve asked for. And it’s funny… because… I know you’re going to be. Because with Liesel in your life… you’re going to be in good hands.”
Liesel couldn’t watch anymore. She started crying so hard that she had to put her hands over her face. Cam Jr., however, remained transfixed. He wouldn’t look away.
“So… I just wanted to say that even though I’m not there with you right now watching this tape, that you’re a part of me, you’re with me at all times, and that I love you… I love you with everything that I have, and that I have ever lived for. Take care of your mother. Make sure she behaves herself.” Cameron smiled. “And happy birthday.”
The film stayed on Cameron for a moment, then cut to blackness.
Nobody said anything. Everyone just sat there, in a haze of silence. Kimber and Liesel wiped their tears. Even Wesley was choked up, even though he’d probably seen the video a hundred times before finally showing it to this small, special audience.
Cam Jr. was the first to move. He stood up and started walking toward the TV screen.
“Honey?” Liesel asked, but she didn’t stop him. She let him go.
The boy sat down in front of the TV set, wrapped his left arm around the back of it, and his right arm around the front.
“I love you, Daddy,” Cam Jr. said.
Kimber lost composure again, but Liesel managed to stand up and head over to her child, who was now starting to cry. She kneeled down and gave him a big hug.
“Mom,” he said through his sobs.
“Yes, honey?”
“That was the best birthday present I’ve ever gotten.”
“I know, sweetheart. Trust me. I know.”
Liesel waited for the emotions to settle, and then she eyed Kimber and Wesley.
“Who’s ready for same cake?” she asked.
“I am!” Cam Jr. shouted before rushing over to the kitchen table and grabbing his fork and plate.
“I guess it’s time for cake then,” Liesel said with a laugh, as Kimber and Wesley stood up and walked over to the kitchen with her. “You OK?” Liesel asked Kimber.
She just shook her head. “Not really. But I’ll manage.” She sighed. “I just really miss him, you know?”
“I know.” Then Liesel wrapped her arm around Wesley. “Thank you, Wes. When I found out that video existed, I was just… I couldn’t believe it.”
“Neither could I,” he said. “It was Cameron’s idea. I had the camera set up and everything. I just… I couldn’t say no.”
“It’s perfect,” she said. “Thank you so much.” She kissed Wesley on the cheek, and the three of them sat around the small kitchen table.
“All right, Cam,” Wesley said. “You’re gonna have to make a wish.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Liesel said, pulling five birthday candles out of her pocket and pushing them down into the chocolate frosting.
“I already know my wish,” he said. “I wish for us all to be happy.”
“Aww… that’s so sweet,” Kimber said.
“But honey,” Liesel said, “if you say the wish out loud, it doesn’t come true.”
“This one will, Mom,” her boy said with a smile. He looked at Kimber, then Wesley, then back at his mother. “I know it will.”
The boy faced the cake, which looked so delicious that Liesel wondered if he would start gorging on it before they had to sing that terrible song.
“OK, Mom,” he said. “I’m ready.”
“OK,” Liesel said. She looked at Kimber and Wesley. “Now I know you guys understand how much I loathe this song. But I’ve decided to make an exception tonight.”
“You sure?” Wesley asked.
“I’m sure,” Liesel said. “Let’s hit it.”
Liesel, Wesley, and Kimber started singing. “Happy birthday to you…”
Liesel looked at her little boy, the spitting image of her husband, the perfect little guy that God gave her after all the loss and hopelessness she had felt after Cameron’s death. Cam Jr. was a gift to her, no doubt about it, and she was going to make sure he had the perfect life.
“…Happy birthday to you…”
Liesel glanced at Kimber and Wesley, two people in her life who had now become her best friends, two people who had come so close to dying that tragic June day that she still found it a miracle that they survived. She was grateful they did, because they enriched her and her son’s lives more now than she could have ever imagined.
“…Happy birthday dear Cam Jr…”
Liesel couldn’t believe it. But she was happy. Even though her husband was gone, and even though life was now a lot different than it had been before the infamous spells of 2012 and 2013, she had to admit that she was the happiest she’d ever been. She knew Cameron would be proud of how far she and her son had come, and the amazing journeys they’d be taking together in the future. Cameron Martin was dead, but he was still a part of her, and always would be, particularly in the form of her special little boy.
There was only one thing that bothered Liesel about Cam Jr. She had seen it early on, and she knew by now that it was something that wouldn’t go away anytime soon. But that was all right. The two could manage it together. And even though she strictly forbade him from ever using it, she figured, tonight, on his fifth birthday, she’d let him get away with it… just this once.
“…Happy birthday to you!”
Cam Jr. smiled and looked up at Liesel. “Can I, Mom?”
She nodded. “Yes, Cam. You can.”
He stared at the five candles for a moment. Then he snapped his fingers.
Everyone at the table marveled at the emergence of five bright, sparkly flames on top of the chocolate cake.
“Happy birthday to me,” the boy said.
And he blew out the candles.
THE END
# # #
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Brian Rowe is a writing fiend, book devotee, film fanatic, and constant dreamer. He's written nine novels, dozens of short stories, five feature-length screenplays, and hundreds of film articles and essays. He is one half of the blog Story Carnivores, where he reviews the latest in books and film. He is currently pursuing his MA in English at the University of Nevada, Reno, and is hard at work on his next novel.
ALSO BY BRIAN ROWE
Teen Fiction
Happy Birthday to Me
Happy Birthday to Me Again
The Vampire Underground
The Zombie Playground
The Monster Apocalypse
Over the Rainbow
Adult Fiction
Slate
Townhouse
Short Fiction
Human: A Ghost Story
New Year’s Kiss
Six Scary Stories
CONNECT WITH BRIAN ONLINE
Brian’s Web Site: http://brianrowebooks.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/brianroweauthor
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/HcXZoE
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mrbrianrowe
SIGN UP FOR BRIAN’S NEWSLETTER!
I’ll let you know when I have a new book!
http://bit.ly/YkV9e8
; -moz-filter: grayscale(100%); -o-filter: grayscale(100%); -ms-filter: grayscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share
