Birthday Blues

Dave lay alone in bed. Avoiding such trivial matters as 'What time is it?', 'Why am I still in bed?' and 'Don't I have something more important to be doing?' He let his mind wander to his upcoming birthday. Less than two weeks away, Wednesday 15th June, Dave would become the 21. This was the big one. The major, life changing, spectaular 21st, less than two weeks away.

So why didn't it feel very major? Why didn't it feel important at all?

He thought back over his previous few birthdays. His 20th was fairly uneventful. Having just arrived home from China the day before, he was up early selling the glorious 'Daily Post' on the bike from hell at 7am. Afterwards he spent a quiet evening with family before retiring early to bed with a yawn.

His 19th eluded him for some reason. What on earth did he do? Oh, of cause, his 19th had been Fathers Day, he'd had to share the limelight with his dear old man.

His 17th and 18th were fairly disapointing. On both occasions, having invited a schoolfull of friends, he had been left with a handful of chums, consisting mainly of family. Still, they hadn't been too bad, from what he could remember. Fair to say he had a drink or two those two years.

'What should I do this time on this wonderous, once-in-a-life-time event?' he thought, with a sigh. 'No need to be sarcastic,' he replied.
'Dave, we've spoke about this before, your talking to yourself...' he quickly remindered himself, putting an end to that conversation.

But what would he do? He'd been asked by various people, but not once gave a suitable reply. Surely such an occasion would tradionally involve the consumption of large amounts of alchohol. This was a snag, since Dave had been almost stone cold sober for a year now and in truth did not miss the hazy fog of the druken state, nor the hideous after taste of the hangover. But how could one avoid such a thing, if surrounded by friends eagar to buy the birthday boy a drink? It was actually alot harder than it sounded.

What did he want to do? What would be his ideal birthday? He didn't know, he really didn't know, but he was fairly confident it would involve cake. Yes, an ideal birthday must have cake. Presents would also be nice, esspecially money at this Penny-Saving era of his life. Topped of with the right mixture of close friends and family, with the cherry on top in the form of his beautifully perfect Little Miss Luo. That sounded nice, he thought as a smile began to creep back onto his face. Really nice, as his almost never absent grin returned to it's rightful place.

Suddenly he was struck by a much more important issue he had forgoten.

'I haven't had breakfast yet!'

Rising, he set off to conquer this new challenge.