HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOLLY!!!
I remember the first time that I ate with holly's family, blonde brobdignagians, her father a baptist preacher made of cement and her mother a grave woman, sweet, sad. while holly and I bothered her brother and played around on the piano, her mother made lasagna, and soon enough it was time to eat. I dug right in, forgetting completely that baptist families pray, a lot, and everyone stared. I set down my fork and joined hands with holly and her brother.
"heavenly father," holly's father began, "thank you for this food that you have set down on our table, and the dirt, and the sun, and the molecules, and the atoms and electrons that you have made, and thank you for our cars, and thank you..." and while he rambled on I opened my eyes, watched the fish dart around in their tank, fearfully. "amen," he said finally, and everyone else chirped an 'amen,' too.
with my fork I broke my squared lasagna in half, and was shocked to see, sitting as normally as could be, cheerios mixed in with the beef and jumbled and junked cheese. I stared in disbelief and watched as everyone else ate, normally, as if cheerios in lasagna was an old family secret.
"sorry, everyone," holly's mother broke in, after awhile. "I'm so... sorry about the cheerios. you might have noticed. I accidently knocked the box over and some fell in..." we were fourteen. holly turns 21 today. holly, I forgot to tell you that I saw Gabe a few days ago, and he asked how you were. I said that you were doing well, had switched your major to art, etc etc.
"holly's the greatest, dude," he said, staring off into space. I agreed. "I mean, at first she seems really sharp and abrasive, but then you realize that it's just because she's being honsest 'bout everything. and she's actually really sweet. man, holly's the greatest."
"holly is the greatest!" I exclaimed.
holly, you're the greatest -- happy birthday
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