collapsed, broken by his weight.

It was time that made him mammoth, and it would not, could not, hurry.
There was never any need for him to panic or to worry.

A woolly mammoth mother walked her son, Elan, to school.
He was healthy and enormous, but his mom still wiped his drool.

XXXVII

WORSTDAY BIRTHDAY PARTY

Today was the day that my sister turned eight.
At times it was sour, but started off great.

We disguised the surprise of a party at night.
The balloons filled the room, which was really a sight.

By request every guest came around to the back,
To ensure, that for her, the surprise stayed intact.

And at five she arrived, so we all started cheering.
Grandma Beau didn't know (she was quite hard of hearing).

We were greeted and treated by Lee the Magician,
But no one, not one of us, sat down to listen.

My mother said brother had taken the cake.
"Don't bother," said father who started to bake.

In an hour the flour was dry on his face.
The splatter of batter soon covered the place.

He had, for a dad, done an excellent job.
I knew this was true when I tasted a glob.

Amazed by the glaze that was mixed in the icing,
We agreed that to feed us, this cake would need slicing.

But Tim dug right in and he ate like a hog.
He was done, leaving none, which upset "Rash" the dog.

I was there in a chair when the presents came out.
Sister shook from one look and she started to pout.

Whatever upset her, the gifts weren't enough.
It was clear from the tears that she wanted more stuff.

A fifth of the gifts got thrown out in the trash.
She messed with the rest and then gave them to "Rash".

She broke every spoke on the new bike they gave her.
By then all her friends had walked out with a favor.

But dad always has his own great back-up plan,
And to keep it a secret, he held one gift in hand.

I could tell from her yell, as he gave her one more,
That this was the gift she had been waiting for.

Her tears, it was clear, had completely diminished.
The pouting and shouting were pretty much finished.

I crept when she slept, and I gave it a look--
Very odd, not a rod, just a new fishing hook.

What I saw dropped my jaw, what a strange birthday wish!
It appears that for years she'd been learning to fish.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of FreeChildrenStories.com Collection, by
Daniel Errico

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FREECHILDRENSTORIES.COM COLLECTION ***