The local Celebrities 90th birthday

The Local Celebrity

fiction
edward w pritchard

Mr. X was very rich and everyone hung on his every word and wanted to be near him because he was desperately trying to give his money away faster than it came in after a long life of skillful business ventures. He was no longer just a business man he was now a local celebrity.

At this, his 90th birthday party, he received hundreds of gifts and cards, some gifts were extravagant, like the yellow BMW, but most were modest because he cajoled and begged that he had no more room for more things and his health didn't allow the expensive cigars, cognacs and cheeses that he often received. Additionally, creative and capable people often brought books and posters on his past hobbies and he had a large stack of such things that he wanted to look at but didn't seem to be able to get to.

Sitting near him at the head table, the single representative for the various charities he represented was worried and nervous. The representative's job was a good one, as it was his sole job to guide Mr. X through these type of dinners, and the 90th Birthday party was no exception. Mr X was distracted and wasn't following the normal protocol.

Mr. X just kept looking at and reading the card over and over. Apparently, the card was from his great grand niece, and she had wrote the old guy a short story based on a piece of family lore that she had heard about Mr. X, from her Mother, that occurred when Mr X was 10 years old. The story was inside of a card from the young girl and was only three paragraphs long and went:

A young boy of ten and his friend hiked across the Cuyahoga River and on a hot July day in the woods, and they found an old half buried stump, and while they were digging it out, in the the buried center of the stump, they found permafrost, that still existed in the middle of the July summer day.
Pooling their limited funds the two boys walked a couple miles to an old tavern and bought two soft drinks and some snack food. They returned to the stump and put the items into the bottom and then went for a long walk along the River.
Returning to the stump hours later, they enjoyed the very cold pop, and food and shared conversation until nearly dark before their long walk back home.

Mr. X normally enjoyed the conversations with the Charity representative, who he nick-named his arranger, but today despite their friendship he remained preoccupied. He knew this drill well but was today unable to focus on the nuances involved. The arranger who recognized he needed help went to find the Local Celebrities Son, to see if the Son could repossess the Grandniece's birthday card.