The cake in his pocket was almost gone. It was stale anyways, though. Every
few minutes he would dip his chubby little fingers into his jeans pocket and
pull out a morsel. There was just the actual cake left by now, he had licked
all the frosting off when he first got it. He didn't want his pocket to get
all sticky and gross. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his
flask of milk and took a giant swig. Mmmm, satisfying. He was starting to
get bored so he knocked on the closet door.
"Hello? Can I come out yet? Please?"   He pleaded with his family and
friends in the living room enjoying his birthday party without him.
"Not yet, honey," called back his mommy.
"Can I at least have some more cake?"
"It's all gone sweetheart, sorry. Oh wait, hold on a minute." After
a few moments the door opened a crack. The light blinded him at first,
seeing as how it was pitch black inside the closet. After his eyes adjusted
he saw he friend Bobby playing pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey.
"Bobby," he yelled, "just a little to the right! You've almost got
it. Way to go!"  Before he could even see if Bobby had actually pinned the
tail correctly a big red balloon was crammed in his face.
"Here sweety, play with this, it's a balloon." And the door was
shut.  'Duh', he thought to himself. I know it's a balloon. He hated when
his mom treated him like a baby. I mean, he was going into second grade for
goodness sakes. 
He was starting to really wish he could join the party. It sounded
like a lot of fun. He heard Bobby yell out in joy when he realized he had,
in fact, pinned the tail correctly.
"Honey, why are you crying in there," his mother whispered to him
through the door.
"I want to have fun at the party too."
"Aww, honey you know you can't do that. We have company over."
"So?"
"I told you, we have some new company over. Daddy has some very
important businessmen over that he needs to impress. We can't let them see
how horribly, horribly disfigured you are. It will scare them away."
"Why can't I just stay in my room?"
"Because people want to see the house. And in house tours you don't
have to show the closets. But we do have to show bedrooms. Anyway, that's
where we're putting the coats."
"Oh, OK."
"I knew you'd understand. You're such a good little trooper. Now let
me see if mommy can get you one of your presents to play with."
"Thank you mommy."  He waited patiently for what seemed like
forever, but eventually the door opened again.
"Here you go honey. It's some new baseball cards."  Before he could
even object the door was shut and locked. He flipped through the cards and
tried to pretend which was who, and what their stats might be. He felt the
corners of the cards. Still sharp. Well, whoever they were, their cards were
in mint condition. He smiled.
Eventually everyone left and his opened up the closet door.   He
couldn't believe all the new toys he had gotten. His parents had opened them
because everyone wanted to see what he was getting.
"Look son, you got a baseball mitt."
"That's great dad," he said sadly.
"What's wrong?"
"But you and mom won't let me go outside, and playing baseball
inside isn't as fun. You can't throw the ball very far."
"Well guess what sweety? Thanks to your good job of staying inside
the closet, your dad impressed the businessmen and now we will have enough
money to put that giant fence up around the yard."
"So I can go outside?" He was so happy.
"Yes, after sometime next week, you'll be able to go outside and
play, as long as it's dark out."
"Oh thank you. I love you mom and dad! This is the best birthday
ever and I mean it."
"We love you too son."
"And we just know you're going to love outside."
"Oops," said his dad, looking at his watch, "looks like you had
better run upstairs for now though. The mailman is going to be here soon,
and we don't want to give old Mr. Dawson a heart attack because of your
gruesome, grotesque appearance."
"OK dad, I wanna go sort out my baseball cards anyways."
"Allright son, have fun." He ran upstairs as excited as could be.
Soon, he would finally be able to see what was really out there.
"He's a good boy isn't he?"
"He sure is dear."
"It really is too bad he looks like such a freak. I told you to quit
the ether while you were pregnant. It was quite a price to pay."
"But it was worth it, wasn't it dear?"
"Yeah, it sure was."
They took each others hands, walked into the kitchen and pulled an
ether soaked rag out from under the sink. They held the rag up to their
faces, took two deep breaths apiece, and just laid in each others arms until
they couldn't feel them anymore.