English Legacy: King of Birds (Chapter 13)

"A thumbnail sketch, a jeweler's stone
A mean idea to call my own
Old man don't lay so still you're not yet young
There's time to teach, point to point,
Point observation, children carry reservations
Standing on the shoulders of giants leaves me cold, leaves me cold.
A mean idea to call my own, a hundred million birds fly"

There you are. Come on, away from the computer. Everyone's waiting.

I'll be there in a minute, I just need to finish this analysis. Six hundred Simoleons is six hundred Simoleons.

Who do you think you're trying to kid? I know exactly what you're doing - you can't put this off forever, you know. Besides, it's someone else's birthday too, in case you've forgotten. Let's get this over with.
"Oh, there you are, sweetheart. Are you ready for this? Hey, what's that look for?"
"I'm sorry, my love... It's just... I don't want to get old."

* smooch * "Well, acting like a child isn't going to preserve your youth, silly boy."

"Well, I'm just worried we won't be able to.... do what we like to do as much, when I'm an old man."

"Oh, silly boy," *nose rubbings* "we'll still be able to do.... that. We'll just have to watch your hip on the.... dismount."

"Hey, could you two grope each other later? It's my birthday too, yanno!"

Laurel turned to her son with a stern look. "Alexander Andrew English! Where did you learn to talk like that?"

Alex gave that slight, superior smile of his. "Well, I *am* almost a teenager, Mom. Can we take care of the 'almost' part already?"
As his parents busted out the noisemakers. Alex looked at his cake and smiled. Finally, he would be able to taking a more active role in his future. He loved his parents, but he thought on the fact that his dad would be an Elder while still having a small child, and decided he wouldn't take as long as he did to build a family.

He leaned forward and blew out the candles, even as his sharp mind reproved him - his father had started with basically an empty piece of grass and had built this home for him, his mother, and his brother through his hard work. He, Alex, had the luxury of not having to put a roof over his head. Alex nodded inwardly, conceding the point to his inner voice. As he did, he felt the change occuring.
"Please don't give me lame clothes.... please don't give me lame clothes," he murmured to himself as he spun around in place, surrounded by sparkles.
"Darn it."

Laurel knew exactly what her son meant. "Don't worry, Alex; there's a whole set of new clothes waiting in the bureau for you to choose from. But first..." she trailed off looking at her husband. Brian sighed, but nodded and stepped forward to the other cake.
He even tried to get into the mood a little bit, by waving his noisemaker a bit... for himself. It helped a little bit, but he accepted his fate.
The change began taking place as soon as the candles were blown out. He had felt the change before, but this time was different - his body wasn't going to get any bigger or stronger with this one - on the contrary. But, he accepted it. He may be old, but he wasn't done yet.
"Oh well, at least my clothes aren't as... varied as Alexander's," he murmured, even as Laurel stepped up to kiss him in congratulations.

"See, was that so bad, my love? I think you look very distinguished. The gray suits you."

He smiled, and thanked her with a return kiss. "Thanks, my love. Now, I hate to cut the parties short, but, I have to go now."

Laurel's smile faded, just a bit. "That phone call from the Leader Of The Free World?"

He nodded. "Yes. That case I've been working on all these years... tonight... tonight, we hope to close the case." He kissed her goodbye, and headed out the front door. "I should be home in a few hours. I love you."
With that, Brian got into the police cruiser and drove off, anxious to see what all his hard work to this point would net him.