Joe's Party
A damp, gray, rainy morning started with a memorial service at church for one of the elderly gentlemen there, who had once been a pastor in the PCA.
It was there that Collette discovered that his granddaughter had been a fellow Sunday School classmate for nearly nine years at Kirk of the Hills. And her husband was in one of OLeif’s classes at seminary.
After the service, Collette joined the family at the house to help set up Joe’s party while OLeif returned to Puck at the Silverspoon’s house.
About two hours before the party had started, Dad and Francis decided to cut down one of the rather tall, dead trees in the front yard.
With a little help from Francis and the next door neighbor pulling on the rope and Dad behind the chain saw, it toppled across the driveway with a crash.
So while Mom and the girls finished all of the food and decorative preparations, Dad and the boys (occasionally aided by Collette and Rose), carted over massive trunks and branches, until the driveway was swept clean.
Two hours later…
Two picnic tables were parked in the driveway covered in yellow plastic tableclothes wrapped in grass skirts with artificial hibiscus and set with tiki torches, pineapple tops, and hollowed coconuts filled with Jolly Ranchers and candy sticks. At Grandma’s suggestion, she scissored open black trash bags which Collette fastened around the benches (due to the damp of the wood). Carrie planted further tiki torches in the lawn after she strung up several strands of LED lights above the drive. A white sheet was hung in the garage entry for the movie projector.
And the guests began to arrive.
Nineteen guests on Joe’s 21st birthday, including:
Grandma Combs
Wally
Starr
Old Blue
Lolli
Magnus
Tennessee
Nacchianti
Creole
Linus
Bing
Annamaria
Mollie
Aristotle
Izzy
Erasmus
Brett Grill
One of the Annie boys
Juliet
So while Carrie grilled marinated chicken and pineapple, Collette threaded them into shishkabobs which Linus ferried to the serving table, accompanied by the watermelon bowl of fresh melons, grapes, and pineapple, and Mom’s homemade macaroni and cheese. And punch of various juices and ginger ale, which was served with little hula girl drinking straws.
Joe himself greeted everyone dressed in Hawaiian garb, including grass skirt, while handing out ruffled plastic leis to all of his guests.
After dinner, Collette and Carrie affixed twenty-one colored flame candles to a giant chocolate chip cookie. Joe received his Happy Birthday song, blew out all of the candles in one breath, and then everyone feasted on cookie and tropical fruit sorbets stuffed in coconut, pineapple, orange, and lemon skins.
This was accompanied with Joe Jeopardy, which ended in a close tie between the teams. 350 to 340, which included many laughs and groans between the total of 31 questions. Rewards came in the form of packages of M ‘n M’s, Peanut M ‘n M’s, Snickers bars, Starburst, and Skittles.
Afterwards, almost everyone split for the small field on the side of the house to commence in ‘star-tripping’, which was a rather humorous exercise — the victim being spun mercilessly around and around until suddenly stopped, whereupon a flashlight would be shone in his face, and he would involuntarily collapse to the ground.
And while the bonfire was roaring quite nicely in the backyard, due to Nacchianti, Francis, and Creole loading the entire dead tree into the flames, Nacho Libre was started on the big screen at about 10:00, and the party ended by around midnight.