Story 5
For three months in a row, three friends have birthdays on the 15th and celebrate together.
15 = Fun x 3!
Hannah Bome was in her room. She heard voices in her brother’s room. She knew one of the voices was Jade Ming. Hannah went to her brother’s room. She said, “Hey, Jade! It is April 10th. We need to start planning.”
Jade smiled and hugged Hannah. “You are right. Mitch should be here any minute. When he gets here, let’s have a planning session in your room.” Just then Mitch Milton walked in the room. Jade said, “Come here, Mitch.” He followed the two girls into Hannah’s room. Then Jade said, “Mitch, April 15th will be here soon. We need to make a plan.”
“That’s right, Birthday Boy,” Hannah said. “You are the first of the 15ths! We don’t want to miss your day! The 15th is on Saturday. Do you want to go to go out that day?”
“I can’t,” Mitch said, “I’m doing shopping and lunch with Mom. My dad’s getting home on Sunday morning. So I’m tied up for Sunday lunch, too. How about Sunday night?”
“That’ll work for me,” Hannah said.
“Me, too,” Jade said. “So, that’s set. Now, what about May 15th. That’s on a Monday. Will you be with your family that day, Hannah?”
“Yes, but I’m free the night before. So, I guess Sunday night would work for me, too,” Hannah said. “Now, what about the final day. Does anyone know what day June 15th falls on?”
“Yes,” Jade said, it’s on a Thursday. I know since my grandma is coming to town on Friday. We are going out that night. So, we can go out on the 15th. Or, we can wait and have all three outings on Sundays.”
“That’s a good idea,” Mitch said. “You never know what will come up on a week night. We all hope to have summer jobs. We’ll be less likely to be working on Sunday night. We’ll have to start by 5:00. Then we should have plenty of time to do something fun.”
“Good points,” Jade said. “So, it’s settled. We’ll have all of our 15 Fun on Sundays this year. What should we do? We have to do something we haven’t done before. Any ideas?” While they talked, Hannah wrote the three dates on her wall calendar.
“Well,” Mitch began, “We can’t go putt-putt golfing. We did that last year. Do you remember when I made that hole-in-one on your birthday, Hannah?”
“What I remember, Mitch, is when you got all wet on Jade’s birthday.” Mitch looked puzzled. “Don’t look like you don’t know what I mean. You fell into the water at the putt-putt wishing well. That was very clever! And, graceful, I must say!” Hannah laughed.
Mitch laughed and said, “I did that on purpose. I wanted to cool off a little.”
“Very funny!” Jade said. “I hope you don’t think we believe that! What is true is that I out-golfed you both on my birthday! Anyhow, we can’t go on a picnic, either, since we did that the year before.”
“Oh, you mean when we had lunch at the ant farm? I itch when I think of your birthday that year, Jade,” Mitch said.
“There sure were a lot of ants,” Hannah said, “but Jade and I didn’t get any on us. Just you. You really should pay more attention! I remember something else from your birthday picnic, Jade. Do you remember those two cute boys who kept running by? I think they kind of liked us. I don’t think they usually run by the same place five times.”
“What makes you think they liked you? They never even stopped to say a word,” Mitch pointed out. “I hope you noted that the girl who ran by did stop to talk to me. That shows that I’m hot.”
“You goofhead,” Jade said. “We know she was your cousin. She gave that away right off. She asked you if you’d be at ‘Grandma’s party’ that night.”
Hannah said, “I remember at Mitch’s picnic when we had that piñata. That was sure a trip. Jade, you and I each took about five swings, and it didn’t break open. Then Mitch whacked it once and candy flew everywhere.”
“I’m sure we broke it up inside. It was ready to explode when Mitch hit it,” Jade said. She took a big breath and said, “OK, no picnic and no golf. How about we go to the water park? I love that wave pool and those slides.”
“That’s a great idea!” Mitch said. “Sunday night is half-price, so it won’t cost so much. The park closes at 9:00.”
“I’ve got enough free-snack cards for us all to eat there,” Jade said.
“Where did you get those?” Mitch asked.
“I won them in a drawing at school two weeks ago,” Jade said. “I have to use them by the end of June. So, our birthdays will be the perfect time!”
Six days later, the three friends were at the water park for Mitch’s birthday. Mitch was eating a birthday cupcake and not watching where he was going. He walked right into a giant mushroom waterfall. He got all wet and his cupcake turned into dark mush. The girls started laughing and Hannah said, “Here we go making new memories already!”
What do you think?
- Based on this story, explain whether or not you think Hannah, Jade, and Mitch were good at making and carrying out plans.
- Do you think you would enjoy the activities the three friends chose? Explain.
What would you do?
- Say your friends have planned a party, and you are excited about it. Then you learn that your aunt and uncle will be in town that night, and your parents want you to attend a family dinner. What would you say or do?
