Happy Birthday!

[FireFeet]

FireFeet has been feeling a wee bit stressed, depressed, and oppressed of late....so she is sending her alter ego, Zylphia...a well-known troublemaking lass from Looking Land...to bring a message to Bill (aka WGJones)...

Zylphia leaps out from her hiding place behind the draperies and with a great deal of noise and an equal amount of exhuberance, begins to sing,

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY....DEAR BILL....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!"

Zylphia claps her hands and squeals, "Oh....it's a party! How I adore parites! Shall we have cake? And tea? Oh...yes...lets!" She dances in a happy circle before scampering over to Bill and throwing her arms about him. "Happy Birthday, Mr. Bill!" she says with a grin.

She continues to chatter, "Oh...and we simply must have GAMES! Croquet is so lovely this time of year...."

[wgjones3]

It's good to see you back, FireFeet. Even if you are reminding me about that birthday.

http://home.ripway.com/2004-1/61235/images/monkey.gif

BTW--Annie got that Todd Agnew CD I was talking about in the other thread. Great stuff. Especially this song called Shepherd. I was listening to it the other day while working on this proposal and that song just hit me in the heart. If you get a chance, check it out, I think you'd like it. :D

And thanks for thinking of me. :) :cool:

[Merry]

"Ah, Zylphia! There you are!" says Doc DIlly entering the room. "I am so glad to see the dragon let you out for this!" Quietly, he says to wg, "Sir, I realize when LookingLand spills over into Christian Writer's it can all appear quite daft. However," he adds passing wg a piece of cake, "there is always a method to the madness. Trust me."

Eyebrows raised, wg thinks the only thing he can be trust is that his old firend have become totally unhinged, he warily begins to eat his cake, all the while keeping a wide eye in search of an exit. There is the sound of a door bell and nine year old Zylphia rushes excitedly to answer it. Though wg was certain he hadn't seen a single door, oddly enough, it seems there was a door behind him all the time.

"Merry!" Zylphia cries in delight. "Why, I NEVER get to see you!"

wg turns as a short, auburn, haired lady enters.

"Ah, Merry," says Doc Dilly, rising from his seat. Remembering his manners, wg immediately follows suit. "wg, I believe you already know my alter-ego."

"Bill!" Merry cries and gives him a hug. "Happy Birthday!"

In a hushed voice, he whispers to her, "What's going on?"

Merry shrugs, "Relax, it's just an rpg. Besides, I have a game to play. Well, sort of,,,"

"Oooh," Zylphia applauds. "What is it? How do you play?"

Merry grins, "I call it: What were you doing July 8th, 1978? We all know how Bill was occupied. But what about everyone else?"

Zylphia looks crestfallen, "What if you weren't even born yet?"

Merry winks, "This is a writer's site, dear. Obviously, you make something up. And the odder, the better..."

"Okay," asks Bill. "What were you REALLY doing JUly of '78?"
"Well, assuming I was around then....oh of course I was," she admits. "This very day I was running through O'Hare International. I had just cleared up loose ends on the other side of the pond and was in America on my first missions trip to the vast and wild reaches of Chicago. I remember this blasted Pepsi machine...I hadn't quite re-acquainted myself with the different money and put the wrong amount in for a drink. When it didn't give me one I angrily gave the thing a kick and this can of soda came flying out and whacked me in the kneecap. I always took it as a revenge thing.........."

[FireFeet]

FireFeet, having endured yet another night of insomnia, gulps a gallon of coffee and watches silently from a dark corner.

Zylphia leaps to her feet, nearly upsetting the table which holds the birthday cake, and interupts Merry's most interesting story with a sudden shout. "I remember! I remember!" Quite certain that she has the undivided attention of everyone in the room, she continues with her story.

"One of the times that Papa and Mumzie and I were experimenting with the Time Machine..." She pauses and looks at Doc Dilly and addresses him with the query, "You remember the Time Machine, Mr. Doc?"

Without waiting for a reply, she continues, "We happened upon 1978 once in our journeys through time. And we attended the most spectacular event in a place called Washington DC. Hundreds of thousands of people were marching through the streets, quite unhindered by the local bobbies. They were carrying placards and shouting about something called the ERA."

She giggles and proclaims, "You should have seen Papa's face when we learned what the ERA was! He became quite red in the face and pompously huffed, 'Men and women as EQUALS...what poppycock!'

"And Mumzie was quite unbearable for a bit after that excursion. She kept insisting that it didn't matter that it was 1897 in London...we had been given a glimpse of the future and it was obviously much preferable to the current status system. She even proposed staging a similar event right there in London!"

Zylphia's animation disappears like a balloon losing air. Her lower lip begins to tremble and her eyes fill with tears. She wails, "I miss my Mumzie and my Papa! What fun is a birthday party when I'm an....an....ORPHAN!?!"

[Merry]

Startled, Doc Dilly turns his head so quickly, his glasses almost fly off his face.
"Zylphia! Where ARE your parents? Or, hopefully, WHEN are they?"

[FireFeet]

Zylphia snuffles and rubs her nose with the sleeve of her dress. With tears spilling from her eyes, she explains to Doc Dilly, "I'm quite certain Papa and Mumzie are still in 1897. Malcolm, the Wizard, took the Time Machine much too far into the future, and when he returned he and Papa had a most dreadful fight...and Papa dismantled the Time Machine. But then the Wizard said that he had something which was ever so much better. And the next thing I knew....he had kidnapped me....and....here I am....trapped within this strange contraption to which there seem to be no rules whatsoever."

She inhales deeply and forces a smile. "But never the mind with that today...it is Mr Bill's birthday! Shall we play croquet?"

[Merry]

Doc Dilly is stunned. "Zylphia," he says carefully controlling the concern in his voice, "I had no idea." However, as he looks into her shining cild's eyes, he knows this is not the time to discuss the matter. "I would be honored to play," he tells her and leaves the party table to join the girl. At the same time he is extremely ill at ease thinking of what must be done upon their return to LookingLand.....

[wgjones3]

wgjones3 wonders what's in the brownies. :confused: :eek: :D

[justonevoice]

justonevoice says Happy Birthday and God bless you in alll you do for Him!


Many many more! :D

[Merry]

:D :D :D :D :p

After Merry picks herself up off the floor and climbs back into her chair she waves FireFeet over. From the impish grin on her face, Merry can tell FireFeet may well have a come back to top Bill's, so she get's the end of the day formalilties out of the way. "Most amusing, Bill," she says. "However, on behalf of FireFeet and myself, we just want to tell you, 'Happy Birthday,' and that no one deserves this, more than you..." :D :D

[wgjones3]

*sigh*

I did threaten--quite convincingly--to swerve the car into oncoming traffic if anyone in my family arranged for the wait staff at the resturant to sing Happy Birthday.

I guess I'm getting that birthday depression so many people get.

[Mr. Otis]

The rumble of an overtaxed eight-cylinder engine draws the attention of everyone in the room to a pair of misaligned headlights rolling to a slow stop in front of the house.

"Oh, foo!" Zylphia stamps her foot in frustration. "Something just squashed the croquet set!"

wg peers through the glass, darkly. "It's Mr. Otis," he grumbles, "With an uninvited guest." Reluctantly, he rises from the ottoman to open the door.

As the revelers watch from inside, two men, one of average height and stocky build, and a much taller, leaner man with a bad comb-over, climb down from an ancient Winnebago motor home that bristles with antennae.

"We can't stay," the shorter man says as they approach. "We're being followed." The taller man's eyes shift nervously from one party guest to another.

"Uh, okay," wg says.

"This is Barney Ison," the shorter man continues. "He's the paranoid loner I would have been in a different life."

"Only because they're out to get me, Otis," Barney says. "Happy birthday, wg. We brought you a present." Barney hands wg a small box wrapped in brown paper. wg notices that the paper is actually a cut-up grocery bag from Aldi.

"Uh, okay," wg says.

"Gotta run," Mr. Otis says. "Sorry we can't stay, but when the Bilderbergers, Illuminati, Trilateral Commission, Masons, Council on Foreign Relations, FEMA, NSA, DIA, CIA, MI6, and the Reptilian Overlords are after you, you can't stand still. Happy birthday, wg. Bye, everyone!"

As Barney follows Mr. Otis to the Winnebago, he turns and says, "Oh, and don't open that until everyone has gone home. Turn off the lights first. And pull down all the shades." Then with two long strides, Barney reaches the Winnebago and pulls open the creaking driver's door. "Safety glasses would be a good idea, too," he calls.

"Uh, okay," wg says.

[wgjones3]

wg mutters to himself, "Thank you, God, that Kentucky is a concealed carry state." :D

[Merry]

Aw, no...Don't be sad. We've just been kidding around because we love you and you know that. Shoot, you're 27, the world's your oyster, Dude. You're at such an enviable position in your life. You've made, and continue to make some very smart decisions. Sad? Naw, there's way too much great stuff going on to be sad for very long and you're going to be in the middle of some of it, too. So buck-up, Dude, cuz you got places to go and people to see... :D

Merry

[wgjones3]

Well, thanks for making me even older than I am, Merry. :D

They say a '57 Chevy will make you young again. So far, both of mine have made me feel older. :eek: Oh my aching back!

[Merry]

Note to Mr. Otis: shoot, I was going to say something funny, but I'm laughing too hard to think straight....

Note to Bill: What? Oh, man, sorry, you're 26!!! Don't think of it as a mistake, think of it as getting back a year.

[Mr. Otis]

*bows* Thank you, thank you! I'm here all week!

Bill: It only gets better. I'm 16 years older than you, my back hurts for no apparent reason, and life couldn't be sweeter. "Count it all joy", brother!

[wgjones3]

Oh, I've got a reason for the backache. I developed a herniated a disk back in '99. Stupid thing never has completely healed. Of course, my wonderful medical insurance didn't think that there was enough of a problem there to warrant any medical tests and/or treatment. They did pay for lots of painkillers that really didn't kill the pain. Thank God for chiropractors, if it weren't for mine, I wouldn't be able to walk right now without a cane.

[Merry]

Ouch! 'Been there, wg. I've only had one ticket in my life and I made it a good one by completely totaling my car and practically flying out the rear window. Movement. Ow. Yup, love those chiropractor's. (Not to mention, the joys of my-life-as-a-pretzel yoga:D.)

Mr. Otis: I did have a thought, and fortunately those still occur. You see, FireFeet and I realized running around here in our LookingLand Persona's would seem very weird, but for Bill's sake, it's worth it and thank you again for joining in. However, I couldn't help but think as weird as we seemed here, just how strange you and your winnebago would be in LookingLand. One pictures fairy-tale creatures running for their lives.....

[FireFeet]

Zylphia has begun to wonder if it's nearly time once again for a Mr. Bill birthday celebration.................

[Merry]

Ha! Doc Dilly uses his supernatural powers as a moderator to reply to this closed thread. I really loved this birthday thread! Little things like Mr. Otis's tribute to the tin-foil hat society made it reeeeaaaalllly special. We'l definitely have to keep this in mind, Zylphia. Now, I will put i t back in closed mode.