Ride

Chapter 23- The Birthday Bonanza (Part 2)

Chapter 23: The Birthday Bonanza (Part 2)

As soon as the blindfold was off, her eyes widened. She was outside in the sunshine and beautiful blue sky and she was on this big al fresco stage in one of Velo City's most famous spots, Sparkplug Square. About a hundred people gathered around the stage. She recognised several faces at the front of the crowd. There was Sally, Mater, Sarge, Fillmore, Flo, Ramone, Sheriff, Red and Lizzie, of course. Then there was Otis, Bobby Swift, Brick Yardley, the Weathers family, Tex Dinoco, Rusty, Dusty, Mack, Jeff Gorvette, Finn, Holley and Sammy and her Italian relatives.

Then there were dozens of people Fudge had never seen in her entire life. There were even a couple of members of the press she recognised accompanied by forklifts and humans operating cameras while just about everyone else filmed on their phones.

Every single person was wearing a party hat and there were tons of balloons (including shiny helium balloons in the shape of the number 13 and spelling out Fudge's name), happy birthday banners, one reading: FUDGE ROSSI-TOPOLINO BIRTHDAY BONANZA and party blowers everywhere. On top of that, before Fudge could take it all in, there was a loud bang! From either side of the stage, two glitter cannons had gone off, showering Fudge in confetti. Some of the confetti was in the shape of the number 13 as well.

"Happy birthday, Fudge!" the entire crowd yelled in unison.

"Oh, wow!" she exclaimed, shaking her head in amazement.

"Wow indeed!" Lightning laughed, speaking into his microphone, giving Fudge another one. "All these people are here to see you, Fudge-O! Can you believe it?"

"No..." She really couldn't.

"Yeah. Me neither."

"But you are the one who organised all of this", Luigi reminded him expressionlessly. "You started the social media movement to get people here."

"I know I did", he replied, not bothering to hide his annoyance. He handed Luigi a third microphone. "I just never thought it would get this big."

Luigi glared, but said nothing.

Lightning spoke in the microphone yet again. "Now, Fudge-O, you can see we're all wearing party hats. And we got a very special hat for you!" He produced a shiny gold cardboard crown decorated with colourful sequins and even a couple of fake glittery gems.

"I love it!" the birthday girl proclaimed as it was placed on her head.

"The Birthday Queen!" Mater exclaimed, rushing up onto the stage followed by the rest of the RS gang. He didn't have a microphone, but everyone heard him nonetheless.

"And we have something else for you to put on!" Luigi announced. He presented Fudge with a badge. It was a ribbon of dark pink silk with the words BIRTHDAY GIRL in the middle.

"Awesome!" Fudge smiled as Luigi fastened it to her dress. With her new dress, crown, badge and star necklace, she did look very special.

"Ready, everyone?!" Lightning shouted into the microphone. "One, two, three!"

With those words, the entire crowd started to sing, "Happy Birthday" to Fudge. When they were finished, Fudge didn't know whether to laugh or cry. So, she did both. She didn't care about her promise to herself. These were tears of joy. It was different.

"What is you cryin' fer?" Mater wondered, both concerned and confused.

"Because I'm happy!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah?" Lightning ruffled her hair affectionately. "Well, I'm glad."

"Thank you so much!" she managed to choke out, beaming at her race car brother with happy tears streaming down her face. "I love you!"