The unfair birthday
575 Words
Chapter 2
When Dinis finally arrives home, he is welcomed by a huge chaos of people and noises in front of the house. He can recognise the faces of some family members, others are unknown to him, probably friends of his sister. He parks his car in his usual spot, gets out of it and walks towards the entrance.
“Hey Dinis, how are you doing? Oh my God you’ve grown up so much since the last time I saw you!”
This is his aunt, Ana, or Anita as everyone calls her. She’s his mother’s sister.
“- Oh uh hello auntie, I’m fine and you?
- Great! I’m so happy to see you and your sister! Come on in, don’t stay here!”
Dinis enters the lobby and sees even more people. He can spot his sister and what seems to be her boyfriend near the dinning table. He’s a handsome young man, with a beard like the one of D. Afonso Henriques in the painting Dinis saw in history class. He’s jealous of that beard, as he’s never been able to grow any, leaving him with a baby face and people constantly giving him a younger age than he really is. In the kitchen, his mother rushes towards him.
“What took you so long? Quick, it’s time for the cake, you’ve missed everything”
She grabs him by the arm and forces him to the dinning room. Everyone joins, while Dinis’ father switches the lights off and enters with a big cake decorated with sparkling candles in his hands.
“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you Catarina! Happy birthday to yooou!” sings everyone in harmony
Catarina blows the candles and the crowd starts clapping and whistling.
“- 25 years old, a quarter of a century, one step closer to death ahahahah” says the as-sarcastic-as-usual Pedro, Catarina’s uncle and Anita’s husband.
“- Oh shut up Pedro, you’re just jealous of her youth, that’s all” answers his wife.
“- Nah, I’m jealous of her boyfriend though, look at that body, you became a fine fine woman Catty. Compared to your aunt…
- Hey! That’s so inappropriate!
- Ahahah it’s ok auntie, he’s just kidding” says Catarina
“- Everyone, thank you so much for this amazing birthday, you can’t fathom how much I love you, you’re the best family ever! Tonight, with my friends, we’ll go to the Paddy’s, an Irish bar in the old town, if anyone wants to join us, you’re more than welcome!
- Hey sweetheart, it’s not finished yet, time for a little surprise” says Dinis’ father, carrying a small box.
“- Oh daddy no you didn’t have to, what’s that?”
She grabs the box, shake it and starts hearing a metallic noise.
“Open it!” screams a person in the room.
Uninterested by all this, Dinis leaves the room and goes towards the stair, aiming for his room.
“What are you doing?! Stay here!” whispers angrily his mother.
But Dinis ignores and goes upstairs, locking himself up in his room, in search of a bit of calm. Suddenly, he hears a feminine scream that startles him, followed by a general cheering. He hears the noise of the front door being opened. He moves towards his window and look down. He can see his sister, holding what seems to be a key in her hands, running towards a car, accompanied by all the guests. It’s an Audi R8, the car of her dreams. He then looks aside to his old Mercedes and feels a great feeling of frustration and injustice filling him.
“What an unfair world.”
- Writer
