An Important Gift

“Happy birthday dear Max and Mina! Happy birthday to you!” Everyone surrounding the twins cheered as they blew out the candles on their birthday cake. “Thank you, everyone!” Maximina cheered back, while Maximillian beamed and squeezed Delilah, his plush Sikeri.

“Are you all ready to have some cake?” Grace said as she set plates down at the table in front of the guests. Her soft smile landed on the dessert. “It looks so lovely. E. Claire, you and your family did a wonderful job.”

E. Claire blushed (as did her father, Croissant). “Thank you, ma’am. We tried really hard.” She elbowed her sibling and they giggled. “I didn’t even mess it up this time! We got it right on the first try!” She gave everyone a big grin and they laughed.

“Once we are all finished with the cake, we can head on into the living room for presents, okay?” The children cheered when Grace finished speaking. Some of them bragged about how they brought the best presents and that the twins would like theirs best of all. In the corner, a brown and white Kat with pink nub horns giggled.

After everyone had finished their cake and repositioned themselves all across the living room, Grace clapped to get their attention, ever the teacher at heart. “Max and Mina, what would you like to say to all of your guests?”

The twins answered in unison, Mina very loudly and proudly, Max quietly and politely, “Thank you for coming today!”

The crowd murmured their gratitude back to the children as Grace grabbed the first few presents, which were wrapped in black paper covered in music notes, from the pile and handed them to the two birthday Kats.

“Those are from me and my sister!” DJ shouted as she bounced up and down in her seat on the couch. She proceeded to giggle madly as the twins tore into the paper. She couldn’t wait to get home and tell her own twin about their reactions since she was too sick to come.

“Woah, a new music piece!” Mina put the small portable speaker on her head and synchronized it to the music player in her bedroom. The music, practically inaudible to everyone else in the room, played into her sensory field and filled her head with the sounds. “The sound quality on this is incredible!” she gasped. She grinned at DJ and gave her a thumbs up, which the other girl returned.

Max opened his gift from DJ and her sister, which was a blue robot with a star on her antenna and little heart blushes on her cheeks. He clung to the toy with excitement. “Thanks, DJ!”

Grace brought the next gift. This was wrapped in white paper covered in the Earth animals called “tigers.” The wrapping was a bit crude, as though it was the first time the wrapper had tried it.

“That’s the ones I brought,” Irina, an orange and white striped Kat, said from the stool at the breakfast bar she perched on. “I wrapped it all by myself!” she stated with pride.

Max and Mina unwrapped the gifts, though they struggled a bit due to the amount of tape, but when they got all of the paper off and opened it up, they both gasped. Inside they found a clock shaped like the Earth animal “cat.” It was clearly old, but had been cleaned up and repainted with rainbow stars.

“The stars glow in the dark,” Irina said.

“This is the coolest clock,” Mina started.

“Ever!” Max finished.

Grace took the clock from their hands with love and said, “I’ll put it in your bedroom and your brother can hang it for you later.” She handed it to Trent to take to the bedroom the twins shared, then grabbed the next present. This one was wrapped in blue paper covered in green alien faces, red rockets, and yellow stars. Max didn’t need to ask who this one was from.

“This is from Killian,” he said, beaming at his best friend. The dark blue Kat with confetti markings smiled back and held his hands together in excitement.

“Oh wow!” Max exclaimed as he unwrapped his gift. He pulled out a carved wooden sword. It was made from a very light, but sturdy, wood. It was beautifully painted to look real and shiny, and the crossguard was lined with faux gems that looked so real to him.

“It’s so pretty!” Mina said. Max was going to agree with her when he realized that she was not talking about his sword. She was holding a wand made of the same wood as the sword and painted in the same way. It had tassels of many colors hanging from the bottom, a starburst with sparkles all over it, and at the very top was a glossy pink heart. She was right; it was beautiful.

“They’re covered in a special resin so they’re resistant to scratching, denting, chipping, or anything like that,” Killian’s brother, Keon, said.

“That way you can play with them as much as you like without having to worry about hurting them,” Killian explained.

Max got up and ran to his friend for a hug. A collective “aw” went around the room, and Max returned to his place on the floor.

“Last one, kids.” Grace handed the last box to Max. He smiled at it and handed it to Mina. She looked at him with confusion.

“It’s from me,” he said. The brown and white Kat that was in the kitchen inched her way closer.

Mina unwrapped the present, carefully pulling back the sky blue paper with clouds on it. When it was all off, she was holding a box that said “Ratty’s Trinkets and Toys.” Mina opened the box and pulled out the cutest toy Dimori she had ever seen.

“Your brother had that custom made for you,” the Kat behind Max said. She held out a hand. “My name is Ratty. I made your brother’s toy Sikeri, Delilah.”

“You made Delilah?” Mina gasped.

“Yep, and I also made your little friend here.”

“Happy birthday, Maximina,” Maximillian said to his sister and gave her a big hug.