The Surprise Party

In the cold and plain living room, Matt is sitting in his chair. His eyes don’t shine anymore. His skin is wrinkled and pale. He looks extremely old and weak. Today is his birthday, and he is by himself. The only thing that he has been doing all day is thinking about how his life is sad and lonely. As he was looking at some old pictures, he found one special with him and his friends from college. This picture brought back the days when he had friends and his life was full of happiness. Also, it brought him a sad memory. This memory happened forty years ago, during his last year of college.

Throughout college, Matt had a friend named Mark. Mark was tall and skin. He wore a thick glass. He was shy, smart and responsible. Also, Mark didn’t have lot friends as Matt had. He considered Matt as his best friend. As good friends, Matt and Mark went bowling together, they knew everything about each other, and they hung out. Also, they overcame many problems together. They were really good friends.

On his twenty- fourth birthday their life changed. On the night before his birthday, Mark called Matt, “Hi! Matt” his voice sounded strange. He continued, “I have an important project to work on. I’m having some problem with this. Maybe, you could come over and help me with it giving me some new ideas. Could you?” Matt asked, “What time?” Mark kept in silent for a minute, then he said. “At 8 p.m. is good for you?” Then Matt answered, “Ok! See you later”. At that night, it was Matt’s birthday. So, he didn’t want to spend his birthday helping Mark with his project. Matt went to a club with some others guys.

The next morning, Matt noticed that Mark was acting differently. When he went to talk to Mark, Mark ignored him completely. He left the classroom without saying one word. As Mark was walking away, Matt said in an angry voice, “You are selfish. You are just thinking about yourself. I was having fun on my birthday. Why can’t you understand it?”

While he was saying it, Mallory, one of his classmates and friend, stood up and started to say, “How can you say such thing to Mark? You don’t know what happened! Last night, he called you many times, but he didn’t get any answer from you. He worried about what was going wrong with you. He took his car and drove all night looking for you. He looked at the hospital, the jail, and bars . . .” Matt started to apologize to Mallory and to himself, saying, “Why did he do it? He could work on the project by himself, and . . .” At that time Mallory spoke angrily, “Shut up! He had prepared a surprise party for you, and we waited for you or for a call all night long.”

Tears fell from her eyes. Matt didn’t know what to say or what to do. Before he said anything, she left the classroom. He sat down and stayed there for long time. He looked around the classroom. It was cold and plain without his friends. It was empty, just like his living room is now.