Not Having Fun

044

When I turned 10 I legit wanted a proper bow and arrow and my Dad took me all around the city to find one. We never did :/

(Bill's POV)

I knock on Chris' door and wait for his permission to enter. When he lets me in, he doesn't look away from his game but I know he's listening. "Sooooo," I hang back by his door. "It's going to be your birthday soon,"

"...Yup," he continues killing zombies or some such thing. 

"Is there anything special you want?" Sally and I have been wracking our brains trying to think of what to get him, Teenagers ae hard to buy for! He likes very specific video games, but we are getting him a chrome controller, some posters from the games we know he likes, DnD dice and shit for other board games. But we like having one big present for our kids on their birthdays along with all the small ones. 

"A crossbow," 

I pause, not sure I heard right. "A bow and arrow?" 

"Mhm,"

I think on it for a second. "Alright,"

He looks away from his game for the first time. "What, really?" 

"Yeah, don't see why not," I shrug. "As long as you take archery lessons," 

"Pfft, fuck that," he goes back to his game. "I'm not taking archery lessons. What about a pocket knife?" 

"You can have a sword if you take up fencing," 

He throws a pillow at me. Good aim for someone who isn't looking. "Stop trying to get me to do things!"

"Then think of a present we can get you!" I smile, fake-exasperated. "And get to bed, it's eleven," 

"I'm going to be a teenager!"

"I don't care!" I sing while closing his door. 

Sally is reading her book in bed and I slide in beside her to read mine. As soon as I do, we hear the door knock. 

"Yes?" Sally takes her glasses off. 

Chris comes in. "Uh, I'll sign up for archery," he shrugs and doesn't look at us. Someone's embarrassed! 

"Alright. We'll go into town tomorrow and look for a proper bow and arrow. We're bringing Max as well, he can pick something he wants," 

"Bringing Max?! I don't want him to come!" 

"Ssh, you'll wake Roxie," I nod to her crib on the other side of the room. If he wakes her up, I'll be out of this bed and whooping his arse in five seconds. And he won't be getting a bow.

"Sorry," he mumbles. 

"Go to bed, Max is coming,"

It's quite convenient having kids whose birthday are so close together. We can save up all year and know exactly how much we have at the end of it, and don't need to save up for another birthday in a few months. And we can get all the presents at the same time, like now. 

Actually, does Max still believe in the birthday fairy? I'll need to be discreet... 

(Max's POV) 

We're going into town, and it's not even a Saturday! Dad is taking Chris and me in to pick birthday presents. Dad doesn't know I don't believe i the birthday fairy anymore. Does he think I'm a baby? I'm not! 

"Ugh, move over! You're bloody annoying," Chris scoffs from beside me on the bus. 

"I'm not annoying! YOU MOVE OVER!" 

"Max!" Dad says from the seats on the other side. "Stop shouting. If you can't behave, you can come and sit over here," 

"Sorry," I mumble and kick the board in front of me. It's not fair! Chris started it, he should be getting into trouble. 

We arrive in town and Dad makes me hold his hand. There are so many places to go, but Dad just walks right by them! How can you walk past a Tim Hortons and NOT go in?! 

We get to a weird shop, it looks like it has lots of army stuff outside it. When we go in, there's an army uniform on the wall and lots of old stuff like watches and leather suitcases. It smells like old people, and there's an old man at the desk. 

Dad goes to talk to him while I look at everything. There are medals. I thought army medals were special, but you can buy them? They already have people's names on them too. Who'd want a medal with someone else's name on it? 

"Dare you to nick one," Chris comes up beside me and smirks.

"No way, you nick one!" I glare at him. He just wants to get me into trouble before my birthday.

Thankfully, Dad comes over. "We've got your crossbow Chris,"

Chris looks at his empty arms. "Where is it?" 

"Well, we can't exactly walk around town with it!" he shakes his head. "Besides, you can't see it before your birthday. We've just reserved it. I'll come and pick it up sometime in the next month," 

"Fine," 

"Alright Max," he puts his hand on my shoulder. "Let's see what you want for your birthday," 

"Brilliant!" 

We walk back up near the bus station to a toy shop called The Entertainer. The have the best decorations! I point to a Build-A-Bear that's right beside it. "I want to go in there!"

"Sorry Max, just one shop today," 

"Noooo," I whine and stop. 

"Come on Max, let's go," 

"Noo!" 

Dad stops. "You don't want to go into the toy shop?" 

I do! But- "I WANT TO GO TO BUILD-A-BEAR!"

Dad comes right over and holds my shoulders. "Max! Stop acting up or we can go straight home!"

I stop shouting and look down, but I'm still crying. I can't just stop! 

Dad sighs. "We can either go into the toy shop or Build-A-Bear, what one?" 

I wipe my eyes with my sleeves. "Build-A-Bear," 

"Right, okay," 

I pick the bear I want for my birthday and Dad promises to give it the name I pick. But he says the clothes and accessories have to be a surprise! He gets us both an ice cream because we didn't get to take home our presents today, and that makes the ride ride home with it!