Author's Note: Unlike most of my stories, this series is not
intended to be a 'stroke story', but more of a realistic tale of
romance between a boy and girl.



Summary: Max has a birthday party with Kimmy and Karen at a
special place.

(bg, nosex, rom)



  It was 10:34 in the morning and Max had just woke up. He rolled
out from under the covers and sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing
his eyes and yawning. Then, he staggered out his open door into
the bathroom.

  The bathroom had yellow, tile walls and a white floor, made of
much tinier tiles. The toilet and the sink, which were side by
side, were white. The white, rectangular tub was to the right of
the sink. Max grabbed his clear container of Aquafresh Kids pump
toothpaste and his red toothbrush from the top of the sink, next
to the silver faucet. He proceeded to brush his teeth with the
red, white, and blue toothpaste.

  When he finished brushing, he merrily ran out of the bathroom
and into the living room. Patricia was sleeping with light blue
sheets up to her stomach and was wearing a long, red shirt.

  Gently, Max tapped his mother on the shoulder. Patricia slowly
opened her brown eyes and smiled up at him.

  "Good morning, birthday boy," Patricia grinned.

  "Good morning, mommy. Can I open my presents now?" he begged.
"Please?"

  "Take a bath first."

  "Then can I open the presents?"

  "Maybe, maybe not."

  Max ran to his room. Patricia shook her head and smiled.
      ___________________________________________

  Later, Max was wearing his clothes for the day: a purple
sweater with a round, white collar, a light blue pair of jeans,
and white sneakers.

  "You can go to Kimmy's while I get everything ready," Patricia
said, after putting her plate into the sink.

  "Okay, mom." After stopping by his room to retrieve his Guess
Who, Max left the apartment. When he got to Kimmy's apartment, he
knocked on the door.

  "Who?" asked Karen's voice.

  "It's Max."

  Karen opened the door, wearing a long sleeve, sky blue blouse,
a blue pair of jeans, and white sneakers. "Happy seventh
birthday, Max."

  "Thank you."

  When Karen stood aside, Max walked in the apartment. Her hand
was still holding the golden doorknob.

  "Kimmy's in her room. I'll be back in a little while." She
walked into the hallway, shutting the door behind her.

  Max walked to Kimmy's room and through the open door.

  Kimmy was sitting at her table with her legs crossed and her
back turned to Max. She was wearing a baggy, turquoise sweater
with dark blue pants and a pair of turquoise and white sneakers.
Her straightened hair freely flowed down her back. Carefully
setting his square box on the floor, Max tiptoed over to Kimmy
and put his hands over her eyes. She reached back and felt up his
hands, wrists, and arms.

  "Peek-a-boo," said Max, leaning to her left and kissing her
cheek. He let go of her eyes and she turned around.

  "Hi, Max. Happy birthday." She gave him a big hug and kissed
his lips.

  "Thanks. Now we're both seven years old."

  "At least until next month. Then I'll be older again." Max
noticed the white paper on the table. Beside it was a round,
black paint tray and a red paintbrush. He looked at his hands and
noticed that some yellow paint had spread from her hands to his.
"I colored a picture for you."

  Two smiling stick figures were standing side to side, holding
hands. Above them were the words 'Max and Kimmy', painted in the
two's respective favorite colors, green and yellow. Max, a plain
stick figure, was on the left, and Kimmy, who had a skirt and
whose head was surrounded by long, scribbled hair, was on the
right.

  "Wow, that's cool," Max said. "Thank you."

  "My mommy said we're going somewhere later for your birthday."

  "Where?"

  "I don't know. My mommy didn't want me to tell you, so she
didn't tell me. It must be someplace really, really fun."

  "Hope so. I brought Guess Who. Wanna play?"

  "Yeah."

  Max pulled the red and blue sets and let Kimmy have the blue
one. He then tossed the box on the bed and they sat across from
each other at the table.

  "You first," suggested Kimmy. Her card was a dark hair and
bearded man with brown eyes and pink cheeks, named Phillip.

  "Does your person have glasses?"

  "No."

  Max flipped several plastic cards on his board. On his paper
card, there was a brown-haired, brown-eyed woman named Maria, who
was wearing a hat.

  "Does your person have black hair?"

  "No."

  Kimmy knocked some cards down.
      ___________________________________________

  About an hour later, there were a few knocks on Kimmy's door.

  "Come in," Kimmy said.

  Karen opened the door. She was wearing a green party hat with
purple horizontal stripes on it. "Max, you can come home now,"
she said. "Grab your jacket, Kimmy."

  Kimmy picked up Mickey Mouse and held his torso in her left
hand. She then reached into her closet and retrieved her denim
jacket. Max picked up the drawing and the three of them walked
down out of the room and to the door. Karen opened the door and
she and Max walked out while Kimmy closed it.

  "Let's race," suggested Max.

  Eagerly, the kids rushed up the empty hall and around the
corner, while Karen patiently walked.

  When they all got to Max's, Karen opened the unlocked door and
they went inside. Max went to the living room and could not
believe what he saw. In the middle of the room was a Power Wheels
Adventure Team jeep. In the passenger seat was a foot-tall
rectangle wrapped in red paper with a gold bow and a small, white
card on top.

  "Oh, junk! I got my own jeep! Just like on TV!"

  Max hopped into the driver's seat and tore the wrapping paper
off the box. Under the wrapping paper was a blue container with a
label that read, '950 Legos', with assorted colored lego blocks
in the background, on all four sides. The lid had four round
bumps on it, which made it look like a four-sided blue piece. It
also had a blue swinging handle right under the lid.

  "Thank you, Karen," said Max after he read the card.

  Karen and Kimmy were sitting on the couch, watching him.

  "You're welcome," replied Karen.

  Patricia entered the living room wearing a green party hat with
yellow stars across it. A black camera was in her right hand. She
had a stack of green party hats in her left hand and handed one
to Kimmy. Kimmy put the hat on her head and carefully snapped the
rubber band on her chin. Her hat had purple swirls around it.

  "Can Mickey have one?" Kimmy requested.

  "I don't think these hats will fit him," replied Patricia. She
left the room, then returned to give Kimmy a green hat with thin,
vertical lines.

  Because Mickey's flat ears were so far apart, the hat could
barely fit. Kimmy folded his ears together and then put the hat
on. It slipped down until it covered his eyes and rested on his
snout. She then held the doll upside down to make sure it would
stay.

  "Perfection."

  "Happy birthday, Max," Patricia said. "Kimmy, hop in the jeep."
The girl walked to the passenger side and sat in the seat. "Say
cheese."

  Patricia's rectangular camera was wide and thin. The flash was
all the way on the right side and tiny lens was close to the
left.

  The kids turned their heads to Patricia and said, "Cheeeeese!".
Multiple spots appeared before their eyes when the camera's flash
went off.

  "Can I drive my jeep now? Please?"

  Patricia looked at the round, black clock that was hanging on
the wall behind the couch. According to the gold hands and the
gold digits, it was 1:45. "Not right now. We have to get going."

  "Going where?"

  "Someplace nice."

  "It's a surprise," Karen interjected. "And the longer we stay
here, the less time we'll be able to stay there."

  "I'm ready to get going."

  "Me, too," added Kimmy.
      ___________________________________________

  All four of them were in Patricia's car, riding through an
interstate. Kimmy sat on the left back seat. On the other side,
Max wore a blue Starter jacket with a pair of white cuffs and a
collar, and the white Yankees symbol on the left breast. Eagerly,
he looked out the windows, looking for some clue as to their
destination. For the longest, he could only see trees and
traffic, with the occasional stores. Eventually, Kimmy drifted
off to sleep.

  More buildings began to appear, including Palmer Video and Roy
Rogers. Finally, Patricia slowed down and turned into a parking
lot.

  "Kimmy! Kimmy! Wake up, we're here!" Max anxiously shook his
friend's arm.

  Kimmy awoke with her head against the window. Groggily, she
looked at Max's excited face. After rubbing her eyes, she turned
her head and looked out the window. Because a red minivan was
beside the car, she couldn't see where they were.

  First Patricia, then Karen exited the car. Max opened his door
and Kimmy followed suit. They all gathered behind the Lincoln
Town. Kimmy's jaw dropped in delight when she saw where they
were.

  At the end of the large, crowded parking lot, there was a wide,
white building. A horizontal row of black-tinted windows was to
the right of the two black-tinted, glass doors. Thick, red
columns with blue bases were on either side of the entrance.
Above the doors was a large triangle that extended to the roof.
Inside the triangle, there was a crooked, red box with the word
'Discovery' in small, yellow letters, sandwiched between a much
bigger 'ZO' on top and 'NE' on the bottom.

  "DZ Discovery Zone!" Kimmy squealed.

  Max snickered and held her hand as the four of them walked to
the entrance.

  The floor of Discovery Zone was covered by a light blue carpet.
Directly in front of them was a giant, multicolored playplace.
Children of all ages swam in ball pits, climbed tall structures,
and bounced on mats. Dance music loudly played on the speakers.
Max and Kimmy were mesmerized by the sight before them.

  "First, we'll eat the cake, then we'll play," Patricia
announced.
      ___________________________________________

  The birthday area was separated from most of the room by a
white booth. Other tables seated children who were also having
parties. The quartet sat at a table that was close to the booth.
Max and Kimmy, and Patricia and Karen sat in shiny, black chairs
with dark gray cushions. The glossy, white tablecloth had images
of party favors and 'Happy Birthday' written all over in various
forms. Party plates and cups were on top of their table.

  Everyone sang "Happy Birthday' to Max, then Patricia set the
cake in front of him. The brown cake was round and a thin, loopy
line of white frosting went around the edges. 'D' in blue
frosting and 'Z' in red frosting were in the middle. Seven green
candles were above the 'DZ'.

  "Make a wish, Max," said Karen.

  Max closed his eyes for a moment and blew the candles out.
Smoke rose up a few inches, before disappearing into thin air.

  "What did you wish for?" asked Kimmy.

  "If I tell you, it won't come true," explained Max.

  Patricia cut the cake. She gave a piece to Max, Kimmy, Karen,
and then herself.
      ___________________________________________

  "Let's go bounce on the moon!" suggested Max, running to the
playplace. After leaving Mickey with Karen, Kimmy was right
behind the birthday boy.

  With other children, they climbed up the big orange, red, and
yellow boxes. The inflatable steps sunk a little from the weight
of their hands and knees, but immediately reformed when they
left. When they reached the orange and yellow top steps, they
jumped onto the red and blue mat, landing on their bare feet.
Along with five other giggling boys and girls, they bounced
around like they would on their beds. The mat inflated, deflated,
and wrinkled under everyone's stomping.

  Max constantly rolled and tumbled on the mat, nearly hitting
the other children. Kimmy was hopping and sometimes allowing
herself to land on her belly or butt.

  "Watch me, watch me!" Max said to Kimmy. He bounced twice,
leaned his head forward in the air, and did a midair somersault
that ended on his back.

  Smiling, Kimmy rolled her eyes and jumped over him. Standing
up, Max held Kimmy's hands and they jumped in circles together.
Playfully, Kimmy let Max go, and they fell to opposite sides
hard, prompting some of the surrounding children to laugh.

  Then Kimmy crawled through a red-rimmed tunnel that was
attached to a blue square. Other kids were also crawling through,
splitting up into different connected tubes. At the end of the
long tunnel was an orange, cylinder slide. She put her legs
straight out in front of her and slid forward. Her arms went into
the air and she quickly went down, hitting the ball pit where
seven kids were playing.

  Eventually, Max got tired of the moon bounce and crawled
through a tunnel, followed and preceded by more kids. Inside, he
found three different paths and chose the one on his left. He
crawled and crawled until he ended up behind a slanted line of
thin, yellow rollers. The walls of this tunnel were blue and had
round windows with the rest of the obstacle course in view. Arms
at his sides, he slid down, his backside bouncing against the
bumpy ride, and ended up in a ball pit.

  A redheaded girl fell from the air with a short spin and landed
on her back in the giant mess of colorful, plastic balls. Kimmy
looked up and noticed a trapeze bar that was held by two blue
strings. She walked past young catchers, swimmers, and splashers,
to a raised, blue platform and jumped off, but missed the bar.
Returning to the soft, blue mat, she backed off as much as she
could for a small running start, then leaped. This time, she
gripped the trapeze bar in both hands, but soon fell on her back.

  Max scurried through a holey tunnel and entered another ball
pit. A few feet ahead of him, several kids were climbing a blue
triangle. He went to the base and grabbed a black rope that hung
on the sides of the mountain. Putting one foot in front of the
other, he paced three big steps. His left foot suddenly slipped
and he kicked his feet, sliding them along the surface while
still hanging onto the rope. He slid down the wall of the blue
obstacle and landed on his feet.

  The kids had a ball at the colorful wonderland. Unfortunately,
the employees would not let them bring any balls home. The
playplace was so huge that the pair had rarely seen each other,
despite spending hours inside. Patricia and Karen had a very
difficult time finding them. Max nearly cried when it was time to
leave.
      ___________________________________________

  "This was the bestest birthday ever!" declared Max as Karen
held the door of their building open.

  "I can't believe you're still saying that," laughed Kimmy. They
ended up at the top of the stairs. "Goodnight."

  "Max, Kimmy has another present for you," Karen said, smugly.

  Max looked at Kimmy. "You do?"

  Kimmy looked at Karen. "I do?"

  "Yeah. You've got to give him a birthday kiss."

  With her eyes and mouth wide open in timidness, Kimmy looked at
Max, then back at her mother and vigorously shook her head.

  Max put his left hand over his mouth and hid his growing smile.
"Can't do that." His voice was muffled by his covering hand.

  "Aww, are you shy?" teased Patricia.

  Gently, Karen put her hands on her daughter's upper arms and
turned her around so she could face her friend. "Give him a
kiss," Karen commanded with a grin. "Give him a birthday kiss.
That's your bestest buddy, right?"

  Patricia held her son's wrist and pulled his hand away from his
mouth. His cheeks were red, as were Kimmy's, as they gazed at
each other with their faces just inches apart. Bashfully, Max
puckered his lips while trying to stop smiling. Kimmy leaned
forward and kissed him on the lips as quickly as she could. The
two then turned to look at their mothers, smiling brightly.

  "Awww," was their mothers' responses. Of course, the boy and
girl blushed at kissing in front of their parents for the first
time.

