Hidden Truth

"Florida Florida!" I heard someone shout in my sleep.Who the hell shouts like this early in the morning''. Slowly, I opened my eyes, the place was already bright. The sun shone straight into my eyes blinding me. I blocked the sun rays with my hand, I was pretty sure I pulled my curtains last night. I looked at the alarm in my desk, it was 9:30am. "Florida!!! will you get down?'' Dad screamed I rolled my eyes and came down from my bed "I'm coming! I said. Memory of last nights event flooding my head. Yeah right, I woke up late so the parlor should be a mess considering the mess they made last night. That's precisely why they....No! He wants me up. Cursing, I wore my flip-flops,grabbed my robe and went down. "Morning Dad'' I greeted walking towards the kitchen. ''Morning honey. Do you ever wake up early?'' Dad asked smiling at me while sipping his coffee. I grunted, "it's holiday No use". I grabbed the broom and headed down the parlor. To my utmost surprise, the parlor was squeaky clean.No trace of any dirt, not even a piece of glass was on the floor. I stood there puzzled,mouth agape and eyebrows raised...no one has ever cleaned the house before since five years ago. " why you standing there looking like you just won 1 billion dollars? And what's with the broom? You look like a witch" Paris said laughing. I was actually shocked, "Who cleaned the house?" He shrugged. He has no idea. Dad cleaned the house obviously, he wants me to find no trace of whatever happened last night. I went back to the kitchen to return the broom, Dad was now engrossed with his newspaper. I went back to my room to shower. What day is it? I looked at the calendar and smiled. I forgot I came upstairs for a reason, I raced downstairs to find Paris, "Today is Dad's birthday" I exclaimed happily I am a party freak! Paris didn't look a bit interested "Yay let's throw a party" he said dryly raising his hands up. Is he even serious? "Dad is turning sixty before mom's death she always wanted it to be a blow! We have to throw him a party" I reminded him. That seemed to get his attention. "Right" that was all he said. He looked at me, then at the kitchen to see if Dad was at a hearing range "How will we do that? It has to be a surprise.'' I just realized neither of us remembered and Dad is completely aware that today is his birthday. Naturally, he isn't good with dates. He never remembers his birthday. "Yeah! So what do we do?'' Paris  asked me. "I thought I will bake the cake, call family and friends." You will go get wine, drinks and whatever. I will get Ghana to buy the decorations and yeah, Ghana and I will take care of the food too." "Why am I the one....." Paris started but was interrupted by the loud sound of a snore from the kitchen. We both chuckled. Dad had fallen asleep. I don't blame him, his getting old and he slept late last night. ''Like I was saying, why am I the one shopping for drinks and wine? Those things are expensive" he grumbled. "Not only are you getting those you are incharge of keeping him away until we are ready" I said firmly and walked away. I had to call all my relatives and dad's friends and Ghana of course. Ghana is my cousin. She's about seventeen years old and lives a stone's throw from here. If you want to do anything party, baking and decoration, she's the person to call. She is always up for it and luckily her mom sells those. I called everyone I knew and told them of the surprise party and thankfully most of them replied positively. Ghana was the last person I called and as expected she agreed to come over with the supplies. "I'm gonna go shopping. Get all the stuffs you need and I hope that by the time I'm back his up so we can go on a "date" he said illustrating date in quotes, he picked the car keys and walked out. All I heard was the sound of dad's car fade away. I walked in the kitchen and saw dad fast asleep. He looked really funny. He had slept with his head leaning against the chair holding his newspaper up like he was reading it. The door bell rang, Ghana arrived. I walked towards the door and opened it. I notioned to her to stay quiet "Dads asleep". She smiled. Thankfully, she had everything I needed for the cake and decoration. We had so much to do. "Alright what's the plan?" Ghana asked ready to work "Umm okay, I will bake the cake while you decorate. Your better at decorating" I told her smiling with my teeth wide open. She rolled her eyes at me "NO that's  not why. It is because baking is way easier and your a lazy cat" I laughed. She knows me too well. We set out to work, I started mixing while Ghana started decorating. I think we made a lot of noise, because about an hour later dad woke up. "Dad,you're up I exclaimed "Yeah "he yawned "What's the noise?" he asked stretching and standing up. I didn't reply him. He walked towards the noise and was first of all surprised to see Ghana. "Ghana?" he called. He looked at the house. He opened his mouth and widened his eyes in amazement, "whoa!" He exclaimed, then turned and looked at me "Is today Christmas? I actually missed the date?" "Very funny dad" Florida replied laughing " Well what's going on? Someone having a party?" " Maybe" Ghana and I replied together. He just nodded smiling and went to his room. It was already past noon and Paris hadn't even called.Dad had probably fallen asleep again because he never came out of his room again. The cake was almost ready and Ghana was rounding up with the decoration. " Nice work" I complemented smiling. I handed to her a glass of fruit punch. "Thanks she said   collecting the glass. "Still on diet?" I asked her  "Yeah sure. I told you I need to loose ten pounds." She said to me. I dont know why she is so keen to loose weight. She's as skinny as a mop stick. I wasn't going to tell her that. We have had this argument over and over again and she never listens to me. The gate opened, Paris was back. He drove right in and parked the car infront of the house. He walked in and carried three cartons of whatever drinks he got and set them down on the table in the kitchen. "Where's dad?" Paris asked me "Oh hey Ghana" he looked at her squinting "Did you loose weight?" "I sure did. Nice to see you too" Ghana replied smiling I was about to reply Paris when we heard the sound of the shower running upstairs. Dad was up and having a bath. I think his going out" I told Paris "Thank goodness!" he exclaimed. He had made my work a lot more easier." Few minutes later, dad walked down the stairs wearing his favorite outfit, a simple jean trouser and a blue shirt with a black P-cap to shield his face from the scorching sun. "This place smells nice" Dad said smiling "what are you cooking? he asked looking at me still smiling. "I'm baking" dad "cake" I said finally. "Oh good". That will just be perfect. I will go and visit an old friend and will be back home for dinner. "Dad told us walking towards the door." I didn't miss the look he casted towards paris before halting  "and please be nice enough to reserve me some of that cake" he said and walked out of the house. He got into his car and drove off. We all sighed in relief. There was a brief moment of silence before Paris spoke "I'm gonna go have fun with my friends okay? Florida please call me when the party is about to begin" he winked and walked out. It was a little past seven and it was dark outside and the whole house is ready. A lot of people came for the party thank goodness. I've been trying to reach Paris for about twenty minutes now but his voicemail keeps picking up. I've called him about twenty times and left him five voicemails but still he hasn't called me back. Normally, I would be angry. Who for Pete's sake is not available on his dad's birthday but considering how Paris is, I'm not even a bit annoyed. I'm just really disappointed. I peeped through the window, still no sign of Paris neither is there any sign of dad. We all just kept drinking and talking. I kept observing. Few moments later, I saw dad's car from a distance. "Okay," dad's here!". we put off all the light and everyone fell silent. It was really funny how everyone  kept quiet while we waited for dad to open the door. I smiled. I heard him park the car at the garage. I could hear his footsteps towards the door. "What the hell is going on here? Why is the house so dark? Florida is probably out with her friends or asleep" he laughed to himself. I smiled he was so clueless  about what was going on. I heard the sound of his keys and him inserting it in. Slowly,he unlocked the door and turned the door knob. He walked in silently, and was about to turn on the switch "surprise!" Everyone screamed  excitedly in one tone, the lights went on and everywhere was lit.The party was really a surprise, instead of dad getting surprised, we all got shocked when dad slumped on the floor and closed his eyes.