Alex was just a regular 9 year old boy. He was ready for his birthday to come. He has asked mother a million times if he could get his presents earlier, but every time his mother has said “No, it just around the corner” or “You can wait another day”. He was thinking about asking his mother again, but decided against it, he did not feel like being rejected again. He went to bed instead.
When Alex woke up, he realized it was his birthday. At long last it had come. He jumped out of his bed, got dressed, and ran throughout the house yelling “It is my birthday, it is my birthday!” “Be quiet” his mother said from her room “We all know it is your birthday”. A few minutes after that, his parents came out of their room. When Alex saw his parents he asked “Can I have my presents now?” this time his father said “Not until everybody else gets here”. “Aw man” Alex said. Over the next few hours they arrived at his house.
Finally the last people arrived, his great grandparents. They were so old; it took them forever to get inside the house. When Alex saw they were not even half way across the yard, he went out there to make them go faster. Then when his parents saw this, his father said “Alex, you can wait, you waited all year”. “But father” Alex said. “Alex” his mother said sternly. “Fine” Alex said, he knew he clearly lost that battle.
Now that everybody had arrived they could give out cake and what Alex wanted most, his presents. Alex knew this was true. He also really wanted his cake, he liked cake. So his mother went to the kitchen to get the cake. When she came back everybody started singing “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Alex, happy birthday to you”. He then blew out his candles; his mother gave him his piece of cake and everybody else’s. When he got his piece he gobbled it down so quickly that no one knew he got it. But the bad thing about that is that he had to wait for everyone else.
At last everyone was done and it was time for presents. Alex had waited 364 days for this day to come. The first present he opened was a big one, wrapped inside was the Nerf dart tag game. He had wanted this for a long time. The next one he unwrapped was another game, it was called Apples-to-Apples, and this was a game he played before and liked it. The third gift was a pair of inline skates that he was ready for. This went on for awhile, the he got to the last gift, this gift he did not want, it was a book “Harry Potter”. He did not plan on reading it. To total things up, he got $100 and a lot of other stuff. They played with his new stuff for a few more hours.
Then at 5 o`clock, when everyone was leaving, Alex received a box in the mail. The weird thing about the box is that it had no return address. Nobody knew where it came from. So the few people who had stayed to see what was in the box were startled by it, too. Alex started to open the box when his mother asked “Does anyone want any cake?” Alex said “No” and so did everybody else. He then went back to opening the box. This time he got it opened. What was inside was a surprise to them all; there was one note, and a map. Alex liked this; he had never felt this suspense before. This time his father said “Hurry up Alex, read the note”. The note read this:
Dear Alex,
What are inside this box are a map and a key. The instructions are to follow the map to where it ends and the key to receive what you deserve.
Alex really liked this now. But he did not see any key, so he unraveled the map and there it was with it was a chain. So he asked his parents if he could go. They did not know where it was from either, so they said in exact unison “Yes, but we are coming with”. Alex was so glad, he ran around the house again almost dropping the key. So they decided that everyone who stayed should come on this Birthday Hunt.
After about 30 minutes of getting ready, they all were out of the house and ready to leave. Alex was in front with the map in his hands, note in his pocket and key around his neck. So they started off on the Birthday Hunt. They followed the map past streets and houses, until they got to a forest. This was a forest nobody really went into, but there were 7 people in this party, so they entered the forest. Now they went by allot of tall, dark trees. They were in the forest for 15 minutes when his mother said “Hold it; I need a break from walking over all these trees and bushes”. Alex did not want to take a break, but he knew he would lose this battle, too. So he just said “Okay mother” and looked around where they were. After all the looking he did, Alex found a little, old, broken down house. He did not to go by it all by himself, so he went to tell everyone else. Everyone else did not like being in here, so they just told him “Okay, can we just get on with this journey”. So they did.
The funny thing is that the map led them right into that old house. So once they got to the old house, Alex said under his breath “I told you so”. His father was the one to speak now, and he said after he tried to open the door “It is locked, Alex maybe the key you have will work”. So Alex tried it and the door swung open, then they all filed inside it. What they saw was a surprise to the all, it was another box with Ale`s name on it in big, bold letters. Once Alex saw this, he was the last to see it, since he had to get the key out of the door; he went straight to it and opened it. Inside it was another note, key and map. Alex read the note out loud, and this is what the note read:
Dear Alex,
Good job, you found the next box. Now let’s see if you can do it again.
This was not a surprise to any of them. Then Alex said excitedly “Come on, let’s move it, we want to find this before sunset”. Everyone looked at him, but they had to look for him, nobody noticed he left the house. So they continued the search. This time the map led them straight out of the forest. The route on the map was longer then the last. But they continued onward. They stopped at City Park to take a break, since it was on the route. What none of them realized was that the city park was where the route ended. When Alex looked at the map when their break was over he realized that it was their stop and that they had to look for what they had to find. They looked all over the place, by the duck pond, and then by the baseball fields. They finally looked by the playground.
Alex then noticed that the map led to the empty sandbox. So they all headed over to it. Once they got there, there was nothing but sand and wood. Alex then had a brilliant idea “Maybe it is buried and we have to uncover it” “Great idea” his father said politely. They started to gig, his mother excluded, and eventually they found it. It was a treasure chest with his name on it. Alex tried to open it, but he could not, so he used his key. He then opened it and inside it was a box and inside the box were a note, a key, and a picture. He then said “What no map” he then read the note:
Dear Alex,
Good job. This time all you have to do is find the place on the picture.
Alex had not paid any attention to the picture, but when he looked at the picture, he knew exactly where it was, and what it was. It was a picture of the tree house in his back yard, that he and his father built 3 years ago, when he was 7 years old. But he had not used it allot. Alex had not been to his tree house for awhile and was ready to go back to it. In less than 5 minutes later they were off on the way to his house.
It was 7 o`clock by the time they got back to his house. Everybody was tired and ready for this to end, even Alex, so they hurried. They headed into the back yard where the tree house was. Alex was right; this was the same tree house as the picture. He and his father were the only ones who wanted to go up, so they did. When he tried to open the door, he could not. He had forgotten that they kept it locked. He looked for the key he had hidden, but could not find it. So he tried the newest key and heard the click that meant it was unlocked. He opened the door. They went inside the tree house and there was the biggest box of them all. His said “Bring it outside, so everybody can see it”. “Okay father” Alex said. He could not lift it, so his father helped him. The others thought it was big too, because his mother said “That is one big box”. When he opened the box he heard “Happy birthday to you”. The box was singing to him. Inside the box was a new Play station 2 and some games, one of the games was Guitar Hero 3 Legends of Rock. “Wow” he said excitedly. “You’re welcome” his parents said together.”You did this?” Alex asked. His mother answered “Yes we did, do you like it”. “Yes I do, and thank you for my best birthday ever” Alex said. He then went inside and played with his new games.