Birthday Girl Ch. 07

Nick listed for a while then gave me a retarded smile and a vigorous thumbs up. Idiot.

"Yes, yes, of course I know, but I couldn't in good conscience ask her before I'd gotten your permission... Yes, I'm going to do it today... No it's a surprise, you'll just have to wait to hear it from her...Ok I won't drink anymore... I promise... Yes Brian is here to help me...Yes thank you very much. I'll see you soon."

He cut the call and held up his hands in defense,

"Now before you tear me new one, just know I had to do it and I am scared shitless and I wouldn't have been able to if I'd been sober,"

"How drunk are you?"

"On a scale of one to ten?" he thought for a while, "I'd say five."

I could deal with five. Anything higher than seven and I'd have hit him on the head with a block of wood and hid him in the trunk of the van until we got back.

"You're not going to do anything stupid once we get back to the others, are you?"

He sniffed, "I can't believe my best friend doesn't even have that much trust in me. The Lord should have called me to his humble abode before I had the unfortunate curse to see the light of this painful day..."

I picked up a rock and chased him all the way back to the others.

"Where the hell have you guys been?" Jenna asked as we got to the table.

"I went into the forest to pee and I got lost," Nick fibbed then pointed at me, "he found me."

"How?"

"I used the advanced tracking and feedback method called shouting. It's pretty effective" I said, sitting back down next to Melissa and digging into the food.

Till today I don't know what was in that stew but whatever it was, it made me want to eat my fingers. It was simply delicious. I'd come back to this park just for this food if nothing else. Nick controlled himself so that no one realized how drunk he was, and after eating, the bread soaked up some of the booze so he sobered down enough to appear normal.

After lunch we lounged around under the shade of the trees for a while, just lazing away with our full bellies. The sun was past overhead and lazy air of afternoon was beginning to settle in. We resumed our journey after about twenty minutes, Jack just driving around slowly and aimlessly as if he was waiting for something. It was getting close to time now and any minute we could get the signal.

The radio at the front cackled and I heard a ranger relaying some co-ordinates to the driver over the static, soon after which, he changed the bearing of the car and headed in a purposeful direction. I looked back at Nick and tipped my head towards the front and nodded once. He nodded back looking like I'd just announced his death sentence. I was tempted to ask him if he had any last wishes but couldn't because of obvious reasons.

The land was more of a flat plain now and was dominated by more wild brush and grass, rather than trees. I couldn't figure out if it was naturally like this or whether there had been some human involvement because it looked more like the savannah plains. I was almost expecting to see a pride of lions slumbering under a shade somewhere with a stripped carcass of an antelope nearby and hyenas circling in cautiously. Or maybe a baboon holding up a baby lion at the top of a huge rock while all the animals in the jungle were gathered at the bottom in pairs. Yes, I watch too many cartoons. Sue me.

In the distance, in the direction we were headed, I could make out around five vans similar to ours parked around a central spot. If I wasn't mistaken, that looked like our destination. It wasn't long before the others noticed the gathering, and soon everyone was craning their necks to try and see what was going on. Nick was now positively vibrating in his seat. I just hoped he didn't spontaneously combust and turn into a pile of ashes.

As we got closer, the source of the commotion became apparent. In the middle of the semi-circle was a herd of elephants standing huddled together. Ok so maybe five elephants don't really constitute a herd, but I could exactly call it a gathering now could I? Even from this far away we could see all the occupants of the vans were out of their vehicles with their phones and cameras, snapping away at the elephants. We hadn't anticipated this much of a crowd but I guess the park was milking it for all it was worth. Nick never had a problem with an audience so it wouldn't be too much of a setback, and anyway, as the saying goes, the more the merrier right?

"What's the deal with the elephants?" Sally asked, "Why is everyone so interested in them?"

I knew why and Nick knew why. Pretty soon everyone would know why.

"I think there's something written on one of them," Melissa said, squinting her eyes.

"Maybe it's an identification tag," I supplied, "and they're elephants, who wouldn't be interested in them?"

A few minutes later we reached them, but we had to stop a little further away since they were already surrounded by people and cars. Our view was limited and we could only see the tops of the elephants. Perfect. Rangers were stationed all around to keep everyone at a safe distance. It was a three thousand pound wild animal after all, you couldn't be too sure it won't charge.

"You folks might want to check this out," Jack called out as he engaged the emergency brake and shut off the engine.

The girls climbed out of the car first followed by Bill, leaving me and Nick inside.

"Dude..." he started but I grabbed his hand and yanked him out of his seat.

"Save it," I told him, shoving him out of the car and following him, shutting the door behind me so he wouldn't climb back in.

I discreetly maneuvered him towards Jenna and left him by her side, slipping the ring discreetly into his palm. Now it was all up to him, I had done all that I could. Thankfully he finally came to his senses, as he always did. It was like when you were in school, you'd always be nervous the night before the exam, but as soon as the paper came in front of you, you'd calm down. For Nick, the waiting was worse than the action itself. He shook his head to clear it, then squaring his shoulders, he took Jenna's hand and turned her towards him.

"Jenna, there's something I want to show you."

As expected, Jenna was confused. "What is it?"

"Do you trust me?" He used his serious voice. Everyone always listened when he used his serious voice, it was a gift.

"Of course, babe," Jenna replied, searching his eyes for a clue as to what was going on.

He took both of Jenna's hands in his as we watched, and turned her so that her back was facing the crowd. Then he slowly walked her backward through an opening in the mass to the centre of the clearing. Surprisingly the noise level went down considerably as everyone focused their attention on them. This is what they'd been waiting for.

Melissa looked at me with an arched eyebrow and I just smiled at her and took her hand as well, following Nick's footsteps. Bill and Sally were in step with us. Let the drum rolls begin.

We stopped at the edge of the crowd and both Melissa and Sally gasped loudly as they saw what lay in front of them. Even Bill was thrown out of his element. Melissa's head snapped to me and her eyes were slightly wide and a very questioning look on her face. I gave her an assuring smile and blinked to let her know it was ok. Her expression softened and she turned back to watch the scene unfolding in front of us.

Jenna was facing us, so when she saw the reactions on everyone's faces she instinctively tried to turn around to see what was behind her but Nick stopped her, taking her face into his hands gently and keeping it facing him.

"Nick, what's going on?" she asked, starting to get understandably nervous now.

"My dear Jenna," he started, "It has been over six years since I first saw you. To date, every first glimpse of you in the morning still makes me skip a beat. The last six years have been like a beautiful dream that I would never want to wake up from, I just hope you give me a chance to make it permanent.

"Without you I'm an incomplete jigsaw puzzle, half a picture, something like the Mona Lisa without her smile. I will have lost the essence of joy, happiness and everything good in my life if you were not there by my side. You Jenna, are a fine woman, and the most beautiful and kind-hearted person that I have ever had the privilege of knowing. You complete me and make believe in myself."

Jenna slowly stopped fidgeting as he went on with his speech and slowly became less aware of everyone staring, and focused her attention on him as she tried to make out where Nick was going. It couldn't be, could it?

"I cannot bear being without you sweetheart," Nick continued, "even for a moment, as every moment without you feels like an eternity. Someone described it perfectly when they said, within you I lose myself, without you I find myself wanting to get lost again."

Jenna's eyes were steadily growing bigger as the realization slowly dawned on her.

"Nick ..." she started but Nick put a finger on her lips and shushed her.

"Lemme finish babe," he said. "I want to think about the future henceforth, because that is where I will spend my entire life, and there is no one else in this world I would want to spend it with, apart from you. That being said, I cannot wait enough for the rest of my life to start. There's something I want to show you, Jen."

He put his hands on her shoulders and held her at arm's length and slowly they both turned around in a circle to face opposite directions. Jenna looked past Nick and took in the view in front of her. It took her five seconds to process it, after which we could see her eyes starting to grow even wider as her face leaned forward. Her hands shot up to cover her nose and mouth and she went rigid, slowly rocking to and fro on the balls and heels of her feet. Was there some proposal training all women went through in secret? Every girl I've seen proposed to does the same thing.

I don't know if it was coincidence or maybe the universe had just decided to line up in favor of Nick for once, but the circumstances couldn't have been better. There was a big female elephant standing directly in front of us, about three hundred yards away, grazing on a whole bunch of grass that was on the ground in front of it. On its side, in huge white letters was written,

'Jenna, Will You Marry Me...'

That was not all. It was a mama elephant and under its belly was a tiny new born elephant pup holding its trunk up to its mommy. On its side, painted in small flowing letters was,

'...Please?'

Nick went down on one knee and produced the ring from his pocket,

"Jenna, it is said that an elephant never forgets and it is one of the few animals that understands emotions, so what better witness than an elephant in the wilderness to remember this perfect moment for an entire lifetime?"

Jenna kept looking between Nick at her feet and back up at the elephants.

"They say, it's your life, make it large! " Nick spread his arms out. "Please make my life larger than life itself baby. Accompany me in the journey of life till death do us part."

He held out the ring to her,

"Jenna Elizabeth Howard, will you make me the happiest man on the face of this planet and marry me...please?"

There was pin drop silence as the whole crowd waited with anticipation. All eyes were focused on the guy kneeling down on one knee and the petite girl covering half her face with her hands and staring down at the guy, unmoving.

I realized even I was holding my breath. By the look on Jenna's face, it was difficult to judge which direction this was going to go. Melissa was gripping my arm so tight all circulation had stopped below my elbow but I was too enthralled to do anything about it. I just hoped Jenna didn't snap and run like a madwoman towards the hills.

Slowly, hardly noticeable, her head dipped. Again she nodded, her head moving only an inch up and down. Gradually the nod kept increasing in range of motion and pretty soon tears were rolling down her eyes and she was nodding vigorously and chanting "Yes, yes, yes, Oh my god yes, yes, of course yes, yessssssssss...you idiot, YES!" and she jumped on Nick, almost flattening him on the ground. He stood up with her arms around him and twirled her around like in the movies, the relief on his face palpable even from where we were standing. The crowd cheered and clapped and of course, pictures were taken from every perceivable direction.

Finally he put her down and Jenna stuck her hand out to him. He slid the ring up her finger and they locked into a kiss, not caring who was looking. There were hoots and whistles all around. Ok fine, I was the one whistling. Do you blame me?

"Took you long enough," Jenna said, sniffling, "I thought you'd never get around to it."

Nick shrugged, "I wasn't sure if you'd accept."

Jenna kissed him again to clear any lingering doubts.

They broke the kiss and hugged tightly, whispering their own stuff into each other's ears. Nick must have said something because Jenna broke the hug and turned her face towards me. Crap, here it comes. It could range from a slap, to a knee in the groin, to pelting with stones. She walked to me, wiping away her tears on the way and picked up her pace on the last few steps and leaped on me, wrapping her arms around my neck and hanging on to me tightly as I put my arms around her. She was so short her feet didn't even reach the ground.

"Thank you," she whispered in my ear, for the first and probably last time ever.

"You're welcome," I said putting her back down.

"I can't believe you guys did this," she said, still holding on to my arms and looking up at me.

"You didn't think I'd let my Peanut get proposed with a ring in a champagne glass did you?"

She laughed, "It wouldn't have been so bad."

"Jen, we didn't want you to choke to death on the night of your proposal."

And there was the scowl I was so familiar with.

"Don't ruin it," she said, poking me in the stomach.

Nick had also joined us by then and I turned to him, "By the way, remember I told you you'd adopted one?"

"Yeah...?" Nick said cautiously.

"That's him," I said, pointing at the little guy trying to get his mama's attention.

Jen shrieked so loud I heard a ringing in my ear. Someone needed to put a silencer on this woman. Or at least give everyone around her ear muffs. She was an occupational hazard.

"Oh my god, you're not serious. You adopted him? Can we take him home? He's so cuuuteee..." Jenna said, bouncing on her feet and making that crinkly scrunched up face women do when they see a baby.

To me he looked like a ball of wrinkled skin with a hose pipe where a nose ought to be but yeah, why not, let's call him cute. Next we'll be calling a box-file cute. Or a gargoyle.

"Jen, you can't take him home. He's an elephant, not a Dalmatian," I told her.

"You got that right. And you'll be in a lot of trouble with us if we find you with one of these at home," a ranger chuckled as he came over to us.

He was a little short and his green uniform had started rounding around the middle, the bald patch on his head just beginning to show and a very amiable smile on his face. His scouting days seemed to be long past and something about his smile screamed PR. He was genuinely jolly though, and you couldn't help like him.

"Congratulations," he shook Nicks and Jenna's hands, "I am very happy for the both of you."

"Thank you," Nick told him, "None of this could have been possible without your co-operation. I can't thank you enough for making this one of the most special days in our lives."

The ranger laughed merrily and slapped Nick on his back, "Come now, don't put me in an awkward position, we were glad to help, and you did adopt one of our little ones. I wanted to ask a small favor though. Would you mind a picture with them?" he pointed at the elephants.

Yup. Definitely PR.

"Sure, but it'll be all of us," Nick told him, "none of this would have been possible without everyone present here."

"Of course," he said, and started leading the way, "I'm Officer Jeremy, and just to clear things up, the little one is a she."

"What?" I asked shocked, "he's a she?"

This wasn't good. I tried to recall if there had been any mention of it but I couldn't remember. I'd blundered. Again.

"Yup. The first one on be born in this park actually. You're very lucky to have adopted her, she's just two and a half months old. Truth be told, she's the apple of everyone's eye here, and they were thrilled when they heard of this plan. Also, it should help with the naming."

"We can name her?" It was like angels were showering Jenna with roses. Pretty soon I was going to be showered with blows.

"Of course! You didn't know that? I thought they would have told you when you were sorting out the paper work."

"Uhmm..." I scratched my head with my pinky, "I was the one who handled that stuff, and uhmm... they needed the name for the registration so I already named him... her."

Jenna stopped mid-stride, causing Nick to run into her from behind and everyone else to scatter around them. We were halfway to the elephants.

"What did you name her?" she asked.

"Ok let's keep in mind all the good things I've done lately. I mean, I get points for some of this stuff right? Let's try to focus on the good things in life."

"What did you name her Brian?" Sally joined in, and it seemed everyone was waiting for the answer.

"I... uh..."

"What - did - you - name - her?" Jenna asked again, emphasizing every word.

"Pit-stop."

Everyone stared at me for a few seconds, including Officer Jeremy. It was like they weren't sure they'd heard me right. Nick and Bill looked at each other to confirm what they'd heard. Officer Jeremy was running his hand through his beard. I'd just named the rangers' favorite pet after a scheduled maintenance break in a car race. I wondered whether it would be appropriate to whistle. Probably not.

"What?" Sally finally spoke up.

"I named him...sorry, her, Pit-stop."

They were all stunned and still a little confused. By the look on the Officer's face, if he'd been given a chance to say aloud what was in his mind, it'd be along the lines of, 'What's wrong with kids these days? Back in my day...'

Jenna was the first to recover, "You named my elephant Pit-stop?"

"Well, technically she's Nick's-"

She held up her hand and pointed at her ring, "What's this Brian?"

"An engagement ring?"

"Who gave it to me?"

"Nick?"

Where was she going with this?

"And what does it signify?"

"That you're engaged to be married?"

Oh, now I see where she was headed.

"And do you know what that means?"

"Nick's life is officially over."

"It means," she chose to ignore my jab, "that whatever is his, is now mine."

"You're screwed dude," I told Nick over Jenna's head, "better hide all that porn."

"What porn?" Jenna immediately turned on Nick, "you still watch porn?"

Nick gave me an exasperated look, "Why dude, why?"

I shrugged. Distraction complete. I started dusting off my hands.

"He's fooling you Jenna," Melissa exposed me, "he's leading you away from the topic."

I gave her the 'why would you do that?' look. I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for you meddling...

Jenna turned back to me, angrier than before, "Explain."

It was like being questioned by the FBI. I was getting visions of a dark stingy room, an uncomfortable metal chair and a really bright lamp shining in my face. I squinted involuntarily.

"I'm sorry ok? They put me on the spot. They wanted the name right then and there, what was I supposed to do? You know how I get under pressure," I tried appealing to them.