"Have you seen that?!"
A simple phrase that kept repeating itself among the guests of the party, some saying surprised, others saying them slightly scared. So far, except for Addams and Gideon's parents, no other adult had seen the NEsPer skills of what Handshake considered the upper ranks ... and of course what no one else knew at the party is that Gideon stood out even in those upper ranks. (After fully avolirndo the system of confusing and little intuitive of Addams, the board of Handshake decided by a simpler potential system based on the English deck of cards, advised by the newest member of the board Cascadio:
Null - Lvl 2 - Lvl 3 - Lvl 4 - Lvl 5 - Lvl Queen - Lvl King - Lvl Ace
Some felt that considering young Gideon such a level above the rest of his fellow Neohumans was certainly risky and exaggerated. For those people, Addams was happy today to be able to put the facts where the sun does not shine)
Seeing in person what the maximum level of the NEPF could do was a unique unforeseen opportunity, one that would serve as an anecdote to tell and spread through the city and, hopefully, would help eliminate the cracks of those who still believed that the fire of the last October was the work of a neohuman baby.
Going back to the present, many of these conversations came to nothing more than a memory, so today we will be left with 3 conversations that ended the events of January 1, 2020, thus opening a year full of emotion, excitement and a lot of movement.
"Have you seen that?!"
The first of these was Alexander the Laboratory mouse, who had forced himself to "steal" the password of the house's wifi to send the video in a hurry to his master and creator. “Look at that mastery, that domain! According to my notes, Gideon Pearson is only 10 months and 3 weeks old. They shouldn't… they shouldn't be able to use NEP skills so easily!”
"Certainly impressive, without a doubt ..." For years that the mouse did not listen to Professor Gyeseung so excited, specifically a year and a half since the professor managed to complete the final NEP formula. "It is so natural with his skill, that little miracle exercises its dominion over reality as easy as breathing!"
So far, all videos about NEsPer skills (name the Professor loved on the other hand) were all controlled and forced medical tests, which didnt take away the incredible results. This instead? It was too perfect, a neohuman using his skills for pleasure and with an agility and naturalness worthy of a baby foal galloping for the first time. “The NEPF is even more wonderful than we thought in the first instance! Imagine the possibilities of a child who, even if he has only a rough 0.75% of my Reality King's abilities, can train, master and expand that skill from his early childhood!”
The mouse understood his master's emotion perfectly ... although if someone bothered to ask him, Alexander wasn't sharing Gyeseung's joy so much. It was completely true that the mouse was a product of the NEP, and that is why Alexander considered himself more than adequate to warn of the risks of so much power in minds too young. (Not surprisingly, his brother and partner Bartolomeo had broken huge laboratory materials because the fact that his brain wasn't able to reason his beastly strength)
Alexander looked back into the garden from his hiding place in the windows of the second floor, studying the situation at the party from his position in the heights. Most of the attendees had returned to their previous conversations, only the two affected families who continued talking with Addams about the battle between the children remained on the subject. "Professor, why hasn't Anne used the Reality king to defend herself?"
“Very good question, my dear assistant! The NEsPer skills-”
"Have we finally adopted that name? Are we really going to use Handshake terminology? Are we so sad that we depend on them for names?"
"Do you have a better one?" Gyeseung asked in his most irritating tone possible. Given the refusal to answer of the mouse, the Professor decided to continue. “As I was saying, the NEsPer abilities of the neohumans are chunks of the original code of the NEP mutation. For Anne, who has all that complete genetic information, it must be completely natural to know if she is going to take damage or not from her neohuman rivals.
In addition ... the Reality king is a skill born from the absolute control of personal perception and the ability to extend it to reality. It isnt as if something like that could be activated, deactivated or simply choose when to use it! Certainly, all that limits my greatest treasure right now is her own knowledge of the world around”
"I am not relieved that what you are telling me is that all that prevents Anne from being ... what you want her to be is that she is still a baby"
“You don't have to be! We live on borrowed time until this world faces the most powerful genocidal that has ever existed or will exist! You only need to focus on your task of watching for the rest of the day, it isnt much but I want to make sure that my calculations about the beginning of the storm are correct” Without letting his assistant answer, Gyeseung cut the call.
Alexander didn't find the strength to sigh, just pouring another drink of the beer can that the mouse had managed to take away from the kitchen. Was it wrong to drink at work? Of course.
Could Alexander face such terrible fates that awaited them without at least drinking a little? No way.
"Have you seen that?!"
Cascadio's levels of excitement were through the clouds, reaching levels so critical that Elizabeth had to take her godfather and discreetly take him to the bathroom before his lips could go and tell some of his terrible dark plans. “It has been amazing! He has taken the ball ... and ... and threw it ... and the ball has stopped in the air! No threads or light tricks! Stops in the air, held in space and time! ... Well, not time because the balls kept spinning ... but you understand me, Eli! It has been… FUCKING AMAZING! I knew that Gideon was powerful when he was instantly included in my Lvl Ace ... but I had no idea how much so far! Now I can't wait to see the ones on the other two superhuman levels!”
Elizabeth tried to hold his godfather as much as possible, trying to sit him on the edge of the bathroom next to the towels. "Please, Cascadio ... don't scream so much. The volume of the music is slightly loud, but I doubt it can cover us if you scream so much"
"Think about it, Eli!" Cascadio ignored her completely, too lost in her own thoughts. The only thing that was reassuring her was that her godfather's voice was getting drier and drier from screaming so much, so he had to lower the intensity so as not to hurt himself. "We have real super powers! Until now the most interesting were sparks or teleports at close range without being able to cross surfaces ... this is on another level! I wonder if it's about telekinesis or something else… Damn it, I should have paid more attention to the board meeting! Where better to learn from these things than in the largest Handshake brainstorming meeting?” Cascadio's breathing was every second faster, his cheeks reaching extremely reddish tones.
“I'm going to get you a glass of water, okay? You... stay here and try to calm yourself down, please… ” Cascadio didn't answer anything logical, muttering something about the future color of Gideon's super suit should match the color of his eye. Elizabeth ventured the party alone, something that was not at all in the plans she was doing last night as a psychological preparation. Although Cascadio was previously presenting her to everyone until he reached Addams (the only other person the girl knew before) and although Elizabeth was proud to have a great eidetic memory, extreme nervousness was playing against blocking much of the use of her brain.
Repeating the same whispered apologies to everyone with whom Elizabeth was stumbling (for looking at the ground), she used the small part of her head still quiet to draw a mental map of the house and a path that led her to the kitchen and back in the safest way. "Cascadio... why you do this to me..." Elizabeth muttered to herself not even striving to create cohesive phrases, trying to give herself strength to continue.
The kitchen was practically empty, something that reassured her greatly, the table with drinks was still full indicating that the party had not yet moved into the house.
Believing that she was safe and sound, Elizabeth hurried to find one of the water bottles among the multitude of drinks the hostesses had prepared ... all without hearing how the sliding garden door opened silently behind her. "Elizabeth, right? I finally find you alone!"
The sudden voice (soft but masculine) calling her made her startle completely, turning around with her heart in her throat. Fear completely dominated her, lowering her head and leaning back against the table abruptly, almost throwing several of the bottles of drinks to the floor. One of the bottles found no stability, falling into the abyss of the ground.
Elizabeth hurried to try to catch before causing a stropt, finding that her nerves made her touch the neck of the bottle without grasping it at all. The disaster was imminent, Elizabeth preparing for the noise of the bottle of cava breaking by closing her eyes and partially covering her ears ... although the noise never came.
What came in its place was they were a few steps at full speed (strong and certainly heavy by the intensity of the sound they produced), a chuckle and a nervous but undoubtedly masculine giggle, coming from the same voice that had put her in that situation. “Miss Elizabeth! You almost causes a great disaster! It's not like I complain, never in front of a girl as pretty as you” The same voice as before sounded this time behind Elizabeth, a rather large and soft hand (no doubt suitable for the voice) grabbing her by the shoulder. "Luckily I was ... or has it been my fault that you were scared?"
Elizabeth opened her eyes slowly, regaining normal breathing. Turning to her savior, Elizabeth found herself face to face (or rather face to chest) with the only boy in the Barlow Holm family, the young man known as Fraje.
The huge teenager, almost a head and a quarter taller than her, fiddled with the bottle of champagne before realizing that Elizabeth was looking at him. “I'm sorry I scared you, I just wanted to greet you properly! Before when Uncle Casc introduced us, everything has been so sudden that I have not even been able to speak! And I swear I really wanted to talk to you! You caught my attention ... at the first sigh” Fraje was well dressed (almost more than his mothers) with his new custom-made suit to complement his body not yet completely adult in shape but in size. And even having a slightly sharp voice and lack of stylization, the exuberant charisma and the enormous size for his age made him stand out from the crowd.
"Just ... that? Speak? Attention?" Elizabeth asked almost biting her tongue, not wanting her message to be treated as rudeness or disrespect to the party's hosts.
The 13-year-old teenager 1,80 meters tall (5 feet 11 inches) laughed elegantly, covering half of his smile and perfect dentures with the back of his hand. (Thing Elizabeth had stopped to look without knowing very well why)
“If you're in a hurry, it would be just that! Of course I intend if you have time to have a pleasant conversation! I've been thinking about you since before Cascadio has mentioned that you are a kind of science genius!”
Thinking about you.
Three simple words that completely displaced Elizabeth to a level that only three other words had come to achieve. Her cheeks turned a lively and wild reddish tone tried to remember the exact words with which Cascadio had been presented and their own actions meanwhile in an attempt to find that he could have been ridiculed. (Since that was the only thing that had made her remember her so far)
The reddish tone of Elizabeth's face was not overlooked by the huge teenager, who (after mentally deciding that it was impossible for her to blame her) again grabbed the older girl by the shoulders, leading her to one of the chairs that between him and his sister had been placing for the guests. Serving her a glass of water without saying a word, Fraje brushed between his pockets until he found his handkerchief, using it to fan her.
"It is not necessary ..." Elizabeth whispered looking in the opposite direction from where the wind was coming.
“You have become very red and that can only mean one thing: Heat stroke. Fan, cold water and a place to sit, the three rules of proper heat stroke treatment!” Fraje explained proudly, smiling openly. "I guess now we can talk, right?" Elizabeth said nothing (or found no words), just nodding to joy (excessive in Elizabeth's most honest opinion) of the teenager. "All right! Then Miss Elizabeth, tell me a little more about yourself! The typical question in these cases is about your studies, isn't it? For example ... where did you study? Because I don't think Uncle Casc introduced you as a genius without having anything to back up the claim"
"Study? I spend the day studying and learning in our apartment. I haven't stopped… ” Elizabeth whispered again, cutting the sentence in half so as not to seem presumptuous. "If you ask more where I study when I was in your school position, the answer is in Geremia Wing until I was 9 years old, when they gave me my university scholarship-"
"You're kidding, aren't you?" Fraje asked suddenly, not worrying about looking rude or ignorant.
Elizabeth negotiated with a quick and efficient nod, one that left her again looking in another direction at the teenager's. “As you said, I am a kind of genius. I was studying at Caltech for a season until age 11, jumping from subject to subject until I stop”
"What? And then? Why do you stop?"
“My mother abandoned my father and fled the country, my father committed suicide and I was completely alone. I ran away from Pasadena and went back to here, where I was living in our old apartment for a few months, taking advantage of my father's life insurance and jumping from small work to arranging computers in small work until I was hired for a relatively murky business. I didn't have much money left and I didn't see myself going outside, so I accepted after meditating for a few days. They werent great jobs beyond counterfeiting and cyber espionage, but it served to pay my bills with my mother's abandoned bill.
In the end, when I was 13 years old, the police found the one who had hired me and offered him a sentence reduction deal in exchange for names and addresses of his partners ... and that's how they found me ”
...
Fraje nodded silently. "I swear, Elizabeth ... that's not the story i was waiting for" Fraje stifled a laugh out of respect for his hard life.
“You asked me and I didn't want to save you any details. I know you're talking to me because you're in the biology club-” Fraje tried to say something, but Elizabeth (in a safety boot she didn't even expect) stretched out her hand until she silenced the teenager's lips. “And my name is along with a copy of my diploma on the walls. Cascadio hasnt presented me as a genius, I remember his words perfectly; so the only possibility is that Professor Will has told you about me as an example of what kind of students he likes, and when you see me you have linked the names”
Fraje shrugged, sitting on the table and crossing one leg over the other. "You caught me, Elizabeth ... you are really a genius!" Fraje applauded the even more flushed Elizabeth, who rubbed her nose slightly proud of having exposed the enormous teenager's trick. "Then you will know my intentions, right?"
"I'm smart, not a fortune teller, Fraje" Elizabeth couldn't help finding her own funny comment, taking off her glasses to wipe a tear for holding back the laughter.
“You are smart… and attractive” The comment left her completely out of place, moment that Fraje took advantage of to use his new rediscovered strength (As Addams had noticed, the strength that members of the Barlow Holm family could exert was much greater than what the dimensions of their bodies should have) to lift her in a hug and draw her against her chest, taking advantage of every little detail (such as discreetly but firmly stroking her hair) possible in his favor
"I've always considered myself a man who loves intellect more than a woman's exterior ..."
“You are not looking at me with love, Fraje. At most with a slight typical adolescent lust thanks to the fact that from your highest point of view you have a full view of my cleavage when looking at me” Elizabeth cut him off immediately, letting go and pinching the teenager's cheek with all the force that her thin and pale body I granted him. “Don't be offended, but since I don't like leaving home, as an exercise to mentalize myself I investigated the people who live where I'm going. I have read your messages on your Facebook account that you hide from your family, about how much it excites you to see you and Nellie Barlow Holm getting bigger…
You are a 13-year-old macrophile fetishist with a sexuality yet to discover which varies between masochism and sadomasochism, between excitement by the male and female body. Your perversions and your fascination with oversized male genitals and gigantic women are all wrapped in an aura of innocence of which you take pride and that allows you to get in and out of the shower or walk practically naked where Nellie is hoping that either you see her or she sees you”
“How can you be shy and yet so crudely direct!? I am not a masochist!” Fraje tried to defend himself, noting that the conversation had taken other unexpected reins. (Although what surprised Elizabeth the most was that only the accusation about masochism was the only thing worth denying to him)
“Ok, you are beautiful and you have really nice tits… and yes, I may have tried to play the courtier card. But I have a good reason! I would like to become your apprentice... No, no ... apprentice is not the word ... student! Your student” And again Elizabeth had to remain silent to understand what (this time much more logical) Fraje has just said. “Let me explain before you reject me, okay? I signed up for the extra biology classes, because I refuse to call that club, hoping to learn more about the NEPF and about… well… you know, everything about biology”
"Everything about biology?" Elizabeth asked in a much more ironic tone than she expected. "Fraje ... everything about biology is much more than you probably are-"
"I already know that! It was a way of speaking! Please, Eli, you're 20 years old! You should understand our jargon and phrases! Anyway… ” And the third surprise of the evening came when the teenager knelt on the floor, clasping his hands in a totally childish plea. "Please! I know you are in the tutors program of the institute, Professor Will told me after conquering him with my exuberant charisma!”
Since the charisma part was something that evidently only came from Fraje's side, Elizabeth decided to keep the other words that really terrified her: The tutors program, Elizabeth's penance.
As part of the treatment Cascadio got, Elizabeth would spend the remaining hours of her sentence in the reformatory doing social work; and while this was initially something she was willing to understand and accept, when social work became being a tutor for students who requested it. (Not matter if it were already of their own volition, by decision of the parents or the teachers in charge)
"You'll see ..." Scratching the back of his neck and approaching Elizabeth to shorten any kind of personal space, Fraje grabbed the bottom of the evening dress. “I like biology a lot and I stay in my dream of learning more about NEPF! If Nellie takes the physical branch of life, it is my duty to take the mental branch to balance ourselves, you know? There cannot be a muscular and fierce Ying without a wise and incredibly attractive and charismatic Yang on which to lean!
It's just ... Biology is much harder than I thought at first glance... and I'm not the best student. Professor Will has recommended me to find a tutor if I want to stay in the overtime hours of biology-”
"B… but… me?"
“Now you are shy again? I can keep begging until you accept, I even know where you live! Please, Elizabeth… don't abandon a future science partner…” Seeing the puppy face that the teenager was struggling to put on his huge body formed a strange but curious contrast at the same time.
Elizabeth didnt want to accept at first, but every second that passed Fraje was getting closer and closer. (His knees starting to touch Elizabeth's toes)
"I have to ask my godfather first..."
"That is a yes?! Cool! I'm running to tell my mother that I have already found a top-notch tutor! I put all my hopes and youthful dreams on your shoulders, Elizabeth-sensei! Because it is clear that if I fail ... I will go into a terrible depression! See you later!” The teenager jumped up, hugging and kissing the cheek of the dislocated Elizabeth before running off full of renewed youth energy.
Elizabeth was completely silent, feeling used, defeated and even dirty after losing with a teenager that the only thing that was bigger than his body was his ego. "Have you seen that? Young people today have so much energy! It reminds me of me with your age! Except for the height and width of shoulders, signs that Fraje will be a very attractive young man! I wonder if I should include you in the energy part, Miss change from shyness to extreme sincerity and back as much as who changes underwear!”
Cascadio shouted approaching his goddaughter, having left the bathroom tired of waiting for his glass of water. “It really suits you, right? You have only 45 hours of community service left and this can take 30 or more perfectly!”
Elizabeth nodded without saying anything, ignoring even the beeps of her Awaker. For things like this it was that she hated leaving home... and for things like that, Elizabeth directly took the bottle of wine behind her. It was wrong, but surely she needed it.
"Please, girls ... you can't pretend not to have seen that"
The time to end the party was approaching and like every good birthday party worth the event will end with the birthday cake, cake in which Alanna had spent almost $ 400. (Becoming the biggest whim since the 3 videogames that Erika bought at the end of November without cause for any date or special offer)
Instead of opting for a single 4-story cake, the couple had decided to take the advice of Alanna's grandmother (who was still clinging to her distrust of the planes to their dismay) to buy 4 different full-sized cakes of different qualities: 2 cakes specially worked with top quality ingredients and with an adult and simple decoration, a cake decorated to place birthday candles and a fourth cake designed for younger children to eat or destroy playing with it without fear of wasting it.
As hosts of the party, Erika and Alanna had gone to the kitchen to prepare everything leaving Velio and Melker in charge of the guests. The couple was confident that their own parents would take care of watching the two grandparents ... confidence that vanished when they saw how even the firm and imposing Roland was dragged by Zara and Ravel to the elevator that climbed the kitchen marble. “You arent worried? It could have ended much worse… ” Ravel insisted visibly worried (both he and Zara) about the events 40 minutes ago, balancing his glass almost as much as its own swaying fruit of slightly overdoing it with the drink
"Please, pappa ... That was only two children playing! Neohumans, dad! We are not called with a special denomination for pleasure!" Erika took the matter off while she and Alanna tried to place all the cakes on the table with wheels that the marriage was using to move and transport food through the garden.
While the marriage tried to place everything and that nothing could fall and Roland helped them decorate the candle cake with all the ornaments purchased, Zara and Ravel sat next to the kitchen drinking from their cocktails and worrying excessively. "Two children playing does not include one throwing balls at the other with amazing psychic powers-"
"Honey, I don't think Gideon's are psychic powers" Roland tried to discreetly take the glass from his wife, an act that Zara took as a great offense by grabbing the glass with both hands. "This kind of skills has a name, remember? Why don't you leave that glass and try to remember the talks in Handshake?
"How silly you are, silly! Luckily you are such a good cook and you have that cute little and firm booty that I like so much ..." Zara shouted, waving her cocktail forward as if it were a judge's hammer (Spilling much of the cocktail in the process). "I've seen enough movies to know when they are psychic powers or not! We are lucky that Anne is so great that the amazing psychic powers of the mini-Cyclops have not been able to harm her…-”
"Exactly!" And like a spring, Ravel joined the conversation seeking to contribute his own point of view affected by alcohol. "Handshake can give many talks but what this country needs are facts! Physical facts! They should invent some kind of receiver of psychic powers to avoid these things! Imagine that a ball badly hits Anne and makes a bruise or even-”
Eating each other's words like who eats cheese sticks and nodding to each other, Ravel and Zara entered into a continuous drunken cycle. (And although Alanna and Erika loved seeing them so involved with their granddaughter, everything has a limit)
"Are you going to say any more nonsense? drunk grandparents duo at his granddaughter's birthday party? God, how could I leave bottles of alcohol at your fingertips after what you did at our wedding party?" Alanna interrupted and cut the cycle in the most elegant way possible, hitting the non-sharpened back of the cake cutter against the table with such force that even without being sharp it was possible to nail completely into table. "What if you stop doing and saying idiocy and start helping us a little? Go find Nellie and Anne and take her where the balloons are for the photos, we will be there in a moment. And you better calm down a bit! I don't want Anne to remember her first birthday ruined by her grandparents! Soak a little before, take off the heat and ingest keep away from alcohol ... and none of this are advice, if you understand me"
What seemed terrifying from the outside because of the intensity of the coup was jokingly taken by the two drunks, who left laughing down the marble stairs. "They have taken my threats as a joke" The Amazonian mother lamented, biting her lip.
“I don't think they took it as a joke, honey. I know your mother and I know that your show of strength has been effective ... it's just that we are your family, honey. You could measure 50 feet and we wouldn't have any fear of you even if you try” Roland joined Erika rubbing his daughter's back, big enough for them not to clash their hands. While Erika was officially the second tallest person in history, Alanna had just finally entered the tall tops with her 7 feet 3 inches (2 meters and 21 centimeters).
Being named as the tallest influential woman in the world had increased her ego relatively, enough to slightly enjoy the intimidation her presence caused in the distrustful ones who were waiting for a tall, thin woman and ended up encountering an Amazon with wild curves and an ass capable of crushing apples without problem. (How the marriage knew this fact is another story)
“I don't want to scare my family, dad… But I don't want to be joked either. They are making a mountain of a grain of sand and I don't like them talking like that about one of little one's friends... All that without counting that this is the third party that have had too much alcohol! I dont understand them, I am unable to know when they will drink responsibly or when they dont”
"Seeing how you have shouted before I am surprised that you are now so calm, really"
“Keep the composure, dad! You can ask Uncle Declan, I'm an expert on this! Also, if I didn't know how to keep the image in front of my guests right now I would be pulling my great wife's ears-" Alanna's razor-sharp look passed from his father to his wife, who quickly tried to hide behind the refrigerator door. (With such a curved posture to fit behind that 75 of Erika's breasts were outside the door's limits)
"For playing a damn fighting video game with our daughter in front"
The tension was as evident as the lack of integrity of the refrigerator door with Erika leaning against it. Roland wrinkled his forehead, not wanting to deal with his angry daughter and his drunk wife on such an important day as her granddaughter's birthday. "Are you going to fight now? Honey, you have to relax"
“Fight? You mean it, dad? Of course we arent going to fight! I'm just a little upset that our daughter tried to make the move of ... I don't even care what character is! I don't want Anne to grow up thinking that violence is fun! And now we are late for my schedule! The cake should have been cut 7 minutes ago and the candles blown!” Alanna raised her voice over the bill, amplified by its size to sound almost like a shout from the old Alanna. "And now, if you'll excuse me both, I'm going to make sure everything is fine by the time you arrive with the table!" The furious Alanna jumped straight up the stairs halfway, landing elegantly and running with the greatest possible dignity towards her yard.
"And let you know that I am not angry! I love my wife, my children and my family too much! All this is concern! God, I need a drink too! It is not fair to see so many people drink and I can not taste or drop! I curse whoever thought of buying alcohol!"
Roland and Erika looked at each other, not needing words so that he could express empathy with his huge political daughter and the ruction that awaited her later that night. Only one question remained in the air between father and political daughter. "It was her idea, right?"
"I had to remind her when she came home with the drinks that we were the hosts and that this was a birthday. From our daughter"
"Life is hard for us who ride the path of responsible consumption"
The star moment had arrived.
"Please everyone, come here!" Alanna shouted through the mike, gathering all her family and friends. Anne was sitting on her mother Erika's knees while Alanna was next to both of them, with Nellie and Fraje on each side as they had rehearsed. A beautiful family print decorated with a balloon garland and a birthday cake decorated by the family's favorite baker, Grandpa Roland.
“As you will all remember the invitation that we send you, I want the cake served at 20:00 o'clock. Well, maybe with the small incident of our children before we have delayed 10 minutes but everything ends up coming! It's time for our birthday girl to blow her candles!”
Everyone started clapping while Roland began lighting the candles one by one, candles that captivated Anne's attention much more than in previous tests. The toddler watched fascinated the dance of the flames, which shone even more intensely when the garden lights went out. Under the brightness of the false stars projected in the dome and the ephemeral glow of the candles, everyone at the party began to sing the same song that their mothers used to repeat the last days over and over again.
The little girl smiled innocently without understanding very well what they were talking about, becoming infected with the happiness of the moment.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANNE!" The previous days of practice were fully paid for both mothers when they saw how Anne remembered to blow the cake. All the worries, all the fears and all the darkness of the whole world present vanished with the last flame.
Without a doubt, this was going to be a great year for them.