Dad's 200th Birthday.... Happy Birthday Dad!

A Special Birthday Part 1

Sean glanced to Brian's right and took in the pleasing sight of his mother, her hair yet to show a single grey hair, her face a picture of well being and happiness. She smiled warmly at both of them. Sean and Sarah took their seats at the far end of the table, the one with the warm light while his parents sat with their backs to the curtains.

"Well Dad it's great to see you both again and looking so well."

"Yes" added Sarah "it's been too long but you know we had to wait until all the conditions were right to make this evening happen."

Brian opened his mouth to reply but closed it again as the food arrived, carried to the table by the server drone. Faultlessly the drone delivered steaming hot plates of vegetable soup to Sarah and Sean and then exited the room, gliding silently across the carpeted floor and out through the sliding door.

Brian with the drone out of the room restarted the conversation. "Now I was just going to say that I want you two to fire ahead and eat. You've had a hard day and I'm sure Deidre told you that we ate before coming over so just get stuck in.

Now tell us what's been going on? "

"Well, not a lot Dad to be honest. Sarah retired last year from the bank and I have decided to take early retirement myself. So last Friday I completed my last day with the ZENITH Corporation. "

"Lord" said Deidre. "So I have a pensioner for a son. I'm beginning to feel very old indeed."

"Ah Mum" Sean feigned disappointment with his mothers reaction.

"You still have the other 3 boys at work Ray aged 150 a self employed IT consultant, Conor aged 141 and dancing as well as ever and David-the-younger, aged 137 and developing nano-medicines for animals."

She nodded stoically, "You were always my favourite Sean, the first one. I hate the thought of you growing old. It means I'm ageing too. I often feel like a 25 year old stuck in an old person's body."

Sean glanced at Sarah upon this utterance by his mother. He'd pick it up with her later. Deidre would have never said this but he knew Sarah believed it was the case.

So on the evening went. Brian blew out his candle and they all sang a hearty verse of "Happy Birthday to You" followed by several verses of "For he's a jolly good fellow" and after a bit of gentle persuasion Brian sang three verses of his favourite Irish folk song "The Foggy Foggy Dew". He followed it up with a joke that Sean knew by word yet still enjoyed hearing it being said by his father.

Deidre was less forthcoming, less conversational but Sean knew the reason for that. He enjoyed overhearing her chat with Sarah on gardening matters. When his parent's home was sold Sarah had raided the gardens for cuttings and plants that she knew Sean's mother had loved and treasured and Sarah had grown the plants to maturity in their own garden. Mum would have been amazed and pleased to take a wander out there with Sarah but that was not now possible.

It made him sad to think this. There were many days in the past when he watched the pair of them walking slowly down the garden, past the flower beds and rockery, involved in animated conversation. They would stop suddenly to admire this leaf or that flower, to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of certain types of fertiliser, root balls, feed or soil composition. They took hours to cover a few hundred yards, lost in conversation.

Sometime around midnight the evening ended.

Sean, on his umpteenth whiskey and ginger could hold on no longer. His eyelids became heavy and he caught himself falling asleep more than once. His father had always been able to drink him under the table. Not that Brian was a quick drinker, just steady.