Happy Birthday—I Think!

Ow! Will you get your big foot off me, Josh!" Sarah Collingwood jerked her foot out from under the heavy weight that had descended on it, and shoved Josh Adams away. "Don't stand so close, will you!"

Josh Adams blinked into the murky darkness. "Well, I couldn't help it," he said. "Besides, why are you standing so close to me?"

"Why, she's got a crush on you, Josh. Didn't you know that?"

The voice came from somewhere across the darkened room, and the Southern twang identified it as belonging to Bob Lee Jackson, better known to his friends as Reb. He chuckled. "I don't know why we have to go to all this trouble for old Dave. Just for a little old thing like a birthday."

"It's his seventeenth birthday, that's why!"

That voice came from another far corner. Jake Garfield started to add something else but then said, "Quiet! I think I hear him coming."

Josh heard footsteps approaching the door, and he held his breath until it opened. For a moment there was silence.

Then, when the young man who had come inside turned on the light, all of them shouted at the top of their lungs, "Happy birthday! Happy birthday, Dave!"

"Hey, what's going—" Dave Cooper could not say more, for suddenly he was surrounded by the six other teenagers, who lunged from their positions, beat him on the back, and shook his hand.

Sarah ruffled his hair so that it fell down into his eyes.

"Hey, cut it out, will you? You want to kill a fella?"

"You only have one seventeenth birthday," Josh said, giving him a hard clip on the shoulder with his fist. "You better make the best of it." Then he said, "All right, you guys, step back and give him a little air. After all, he's a senior citizen now, you know. We have to be careful of our elders. Old Dave is getting along in years."

The subject looked anything but elderly. Dave was exactly six feet tall and well-built. He had yellow hair and blue eyes, and his tan gave him an outdoors look. He grinned at Josh. "That's right! Have a little respect for us old folks."

Abbey Roberts said, "Back in Oldworld we used to spank people on their birthday. One lick for every year old they were."

"Yeah, you go ahead, Abbey." The speaker was a small black boy whose full name was Gregory Randolph Washington Jones. This would have been tiresome to say, so he was known simply as Wash. He had large eyes, and his teeth shown brightly against the blackness of his skin. He nudged Abbey with an elbow. "Go on. You start."

Abbey, at fifteen, had blonde hair and blue eyes and a perfectly shaped mouth. Now she pouted rather prettily. "He's too big. I'll let you guys take care of that, but I will wish him happy birthday like this—" She pulled Dave's head down and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Then she said, "Now you, Sarah."

Sarah Collingwood was sixteen. She was small, graceful, and had brown eyes and black hair. Quickly she slipped over and kissed Dave's other cheek. "And now, you guys can give him that spanking anytime you want to."

"We'll take care of that later," Reb said. "Let's give him his presents before we get on with that little ceremony."

Reb was lanky and muscular at six feet one. He had light blue eyes and sun-bleached hair. He was known to give a Rebel yell when he got excited, and now his eyes shown with fun as he said, "Birthday gift!" and shoved a package at Dave.

Self-consciously Dave took the present, muttering, "You guys shouldn't have done this."

"Yeah, you don't deserve it," Reb said. "We all agreed on that. Now, go on and open your presents."

Dave opened the bulky package, and when the paper was ripped away, he looked up and grinned. "Hey, Reb! These are the eelskin boots that I wanted so much. I don't know how you paid for these!" He rubbed their shiny surface. "But thanks. Just what I wanted."

"Well, here you are," Josh said, thrusting a small package at him. This proved to be a razor-edged knife with a bone handle and a black leather sheath that mounted on the belt. "Be careful you don't cut yourself on it—" Josh grinned "—and don't let Jake borrow it. You know how he dulls a knife."

Jake Garfield was much shorter than Reb or Josh or Dave. He had a head of flaming red hair, his brown eyes were sharp, and he had a mind that worked constantly. He ignored Josh's remark and handed Dave a plain brown-paper parcel. "Didn't have time for fancy wrapping paper," he mumbled.

Everyone watched as Dave unwrapped the gift, for Jake was the most innovative of the Seven Sleepers. He loved to invent things, and he watched carefully as Dave took off the paper.

"Well, I sure appreciate it," Dave said, puzzlement in his blue eyes, "but what is it?"

"Just push that little button on the side and you'll see."

Cautiously Dave turned over the small black object. It was less than an inch thick, about two inches wide, and three or four inches long. Its smooth case was broken only by one small button. "It won't blow up, will it?" he asked.

"Just push the button," Jake repeated.

Dave held the box at arm's length—he was aware that some of Jake's inventions were rather scary—and pressed the button.

Instantly a high-pitched howl nearly deafened them all.

Dave threw the box across the room and covered his ears. The rest of the Sleepers did the same, and it was Jake who scrambled across the floor and shut off the noise by pushing the button again. He turned his bright eyes on Dave and nodded. "Well, how'd you like that?"

"Wonderful!" Dave exclaimed, removing his hands from his ears. "Maybe I'll be able to hear again in a week or two. What's it for?"

"Why, if somebody jumps out and starts to mug you, you just push the button. It'll scare the waddle out of them."

"It'll sure deafen them," Josh said ruefully. He shook his head and grinned at Jake, for it was just the sort of thing that Jake would do.

Sarah presented her gift, a shirt that she had made herself out of some very soft blue material. "If it's too big, I can take it up," she said anxiously.

Dave held up the shirt, admired it, and smiled at her. "It looks great, Sarah. Thanks a lot."

Then Wash stepped up. "Here. Try this on for size." His gift proved to be a beautifully constructed snake-skin belt, which Dave liked exceedingly and said so.

Abbey's gift was even larger than Reb's, and her eyes glinted as she gave it to Dave and watched him open it.

It was a fawn-colored suede hat—much like the kind Australians wore back in Oldworld. It had one side pinned up, and he put it on at once. "Just a fit," he said. He looked around for a mirror and saw none. "How do I look?"

"You look like Crocodile Dundee," Josh said cheerfully. "Now, let's have the cake. That's all the presents you get."

Abbey and Sarah had made a huge chocolate cake—Dave's favorite—and he blew out the seventeen...