The Birthday Party (A Very Colorful Musical)
Father: Celebrating his 50th birthday party.
Lena: Very excited to see the fancily decorated fruit cake, made by Mr. Joseph Newton, best cake maker in Marigot…. I kept thinking how delicious it must taste.
Father: Invited his usual friends to the party.
Lena: Must leave to sleep with adopted grandmother.
Father: Drinks and food prepared and ready for the evening’s party.
Lena: Admiring cake, wonders if there’ll be any left, when I return home next day.
Father: Out of the house at the moment, probably collecting last minute items.
Lena: Time to leave. Looks at the cake, cuts a slice, then turns the cake around.
Father: Guests arrive for birthday party.
Lena: Enjoys eating cake, while walking to grandmother’s house.
Father: Having too much fun to notice a slice of his birthday cake is missing.
Lena: Never heard about the cake and don’t remember telling anyone about it until I was grown.
Father: Never missed celebrating his birthday.
Lena: Twenty years later, flew to Dominica, on my father’s birthday, with a cake, for a surprise visit.
Father: Sat playing with his island friends.
Lena: I came all the way here to personally present you with your birthday gift.
Father: Very surprise, but his heart was strong enough to withstand the surprise.
Lena: Prepared food and drinks for the birthday party.
Father: Enjoyed his birthday party, drank and danced while having a great time, then he fell into bed.
Lena: After three days on the island, I returned to the USA.
Father: Continues celebrating his other birthdays while living in Dominica.
Lena: Five years after my surprise birthday visit, I returned to the island one month before my father’s 86th birthday.
Lena: Very upsetting to see how frail and thin my father has become. Leaves the room in tears.
Father: Cries when he sees me. He’s very sick and weak, barely able to walk, uses a wheelchair, which he has mastered around the house.
Lena: Within the next few days, I planned a birthday party, invited people in the village and gave him his final party.
Father: Unable to dance, but strong enough to enjoy his birthday party and cut his birthday cake.
Lena: That was my final birthday celebration with my father.
Father: He is very sad to see me leave, starts crying. Knows we might not see each other again.
Lena: Arrive at the airport, checked in too late, missed my flight. Returned home under bright, blue, sunny skies.
Father: Very happy to see me return and perks up a bit.
Lena: Sat on balcony admiring the beautiful blue sky while enjoying a cold drink. Spending another night in Dominica with my father, made a significant difference, to the both of us….. incidentally, that would have been our last night together, before his passing.
This incident occurred when I was about ten years old; yet, the memories are as vivid as they were that Saturday afternoon, so many many years ago. My father celebrated all his birthdays, sometimes the guest were many and sometimes just a few. My father counted his birthday by days and could easily tell you how old he was by days and years. His favorite quote was, “if life be long, I’ll be glad, if short, why should I be sad?” A very serious, yet extremely playful man, he easily got along with young and old people alike. He enjoyed playing dominos and was eager to play with just about anyone who could pick up a domino… including my nephew, Jaheil, who was about three years old at the time, but quickly understood my father’s intense, yet childlike love, for the domino game.
