EPISODE 28: Birthday Party

EPISODE 28: BIRTHDAY PARTY

Thursday July 15, 2010
The Nest- Backyard
Indianapolis, Indiana
3:10 PM Local Time


Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday, Dear Theresa!
Happy Birthday to you!

The twoscore party goers gave a rousing cheer as northwest Indianapolis’ newest four year old took a deep breath, and blew out her candles with an impressive burst of carbon dioxide. Beaming at her daughter, Wendy quickly removed the four candles from the Disney Princess cake while Terrence, knife in hand, approached to start cutting pieces.

As Pollaski struggled to open a giant tub of Neapolitan ice cream, Wendy looked around. Most of the young parents in the neighborhood had come to the party, while a heaping pile of presents sat on the deck, waiting for Theresa’s eager hands to tear away their wrappings. Finally, with a grunt of pain, Pollaski managed to pry the lid off, and grabbed a nearby scoop to start putting the ice cream on the plates of cake that were now being handed out to the guests (although the birthday girl had gotten first slice, of course!)

Wendy was so intent on watching her daughter gleefully gulp down her birthday cake, she hardly noticed her husband thrusting a plate into her own hands. She looked up at him, smiling warmly as she accepted the treat, and grabbed a fork from the table.

Before too long, everyone else had a piece, and Terrence cut a slice off for himself, and plopped a scoop of ice cream on his plate (Pollaski had abandoned his post in short order to wolf down his own cake), and walked over to stand next to his wife.

“It’s going well.” Terrence commented, looking around at the guests enjoying themselves.

“It is,” Wendy agreed, her mouth full of the chocolate cake. “I was afraid it might be too big a party for her, but ...”

“She’s handling it well,” Terrence observed. “She’s having a lot of fun.”

Wendy looked up at the sky, where only a few white puffly clouds idly wandered across, the rest of the heavens a perfect azure. “Such a great day,” she said wistfully.

Terrence nodded, and took Wendy’s empty plate from her, tossing them in a nearby Rubbermaid trash can.

“But all this makes me that much more worried about her.” Wendy commented.

“Hey,” Terrence admonished sternly. “No thinking about Mandrake today. That’s a rule.”

“I’m sorry,” Wendy said, sighing as Theresa went bounding down the deck steps after some other kids to go play tag. “It’s just always in the back of my mind, though.”

“Yeah, well, I doubt Victor’s going to be storming into this party. Not when three of the guests are police officers,” Terrence said with a chuckle, pointing out a group of three men down on the lawn, drinking Cokes and laughing with each other as they watched the game of tag get underway. “Just relax, and worry about tomorrow tomorrow.”

“I know, but...”

“Relax!” Terrence said kindly, but still in a tone that brokered no argument.

“You’re right,” Wendy said, looking around the yard. “Where’d Pollaski go?” Oddly enough, after eating his cake, the portly manager had completely disappeared.

She didn’t have to wait long to get her answer.

“PINATA!” Pollaski bellowed in triumph as he emerged from the back door, and the vast majority of the partygoers looked over at the disturbance. Sure enough, Pollaski was carrying a pinata shaped like a pink pony, a rope tied to it, while a small baseball bat rested in his other hand. The children down on the lawn screamed in anticipation, their game of tag forgotten as Daniel jogged down the steps.

Exchanging amused glances, the WhirlyBirdz followed Pollaski down, nor were they the only adults doing so. Before long, Pollaski had tossed the rope over the lower branches of the large elm that sat in the middle of the yard, and was holding the pinata at the right height for a four-year old girl. Producing a blindfold from his pocket, he tossed it to Terrence, who put it over Theresa’s eyes, and put the bat in her hand.

“Okay,” Terrence said, guiding the little girl towards the pony. “Try to hit the pony.”

Theresa swung the bat with all her might, and the crowd cheered as the bat made contact. Theresa ripped off the blindfold, squealing with glee at the two pieces of candy that had fallen out. Theresa snatched them up, and ran back to her mom, placing both candies in her hand, while the crowd “awww”ed at the gesture.

“Thank’s, Terr-Bear,” Wendy smiled, opening the wrappers. She knew that the gesture was hardly as selfless as the onlookers believed. The candies were Tootise Rolls, which Theresa was not fond of. Still, she popped one in her mouth, as Terrence helped blindfold the next child.

Soon, all the children had gone, and the pony had definitely taken a beating, candy and cheers flying with each hint. Since she went first, Terrence went to put the blindfold back on his daughter, but she refused, pointing at Daniel. “Powaskee’s tuwn!” she demanded.

Pollaski protested, but Theresa kept insisting, so finally, he agreed, and Terrence put the blindfold up, while Wendy grabbed the rope, raising the pony to a higher level. Pollaski took the bat, and tentatively moved forward, but Terrence stopped him.

“Oh, no” the Mechanical Mayhem said. “You’re doing this the HARD way.”

Terrence forced Pollaski to spin around several times, and let go, shoving him at the pinata. The portly manager stumbled towards the pony, raising the small bat, and swinging with all his might...

THWACK!

While no candy went flying, the head of the pony did, having been seperated from the body by the blow. As Terrence and Wendy watched in horror, the head slowly arced over the back fence, landing in the next yard.

It took some time for Wendy to realize that most of the children were screaming, and for a fleeting second, she had this horrible thought that Pollaski had just traumatized the entire neighborhood. But then she realized the screams were of joy and excitement, not terror. In fact, the word “Awesome” was being thrown around rather liberally. Most of the adults were even laughing at the spectacle, and Pollaski, who taken off his blindfold to see the decapitated horse in front of him, was grinning sheepishly. Deciphering from the children’s babbles what had happened, he erupted in belly shaking laughter at the situation.

“Say,” one of the police officers in attendance said, his mouth full of one of the Flavor Rolls he had ‘confiscated’ from his own child. “Isn’t that the house where that couple who’s REALLY active in the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals lives?”

That comment raised more laughter at the thought of the expression on those people’s faces when they discovered a horse’s head lying in their yard. Even Wendy grinned nervously at the thought.

“What say we open some presents?” Terrence said, fully realizing the pinata game had come to a fitting end.

With that, the children let out another collective scream of excitement, and a tiny stampede back towards the deck began. Wendy watched them all run away, Theresa leading the way, and smiled.

Yes, today was a good day.



Thursday July 15, 2010
The Nest- Living Room
Indianapolis, Indiana
9:23 PM Local Time

[Okay, you shoulda heard the scream from the woman living behind the Thompsons when she saw the head of the pony in her backyard. So after assuring the woman that it was an accident, and not some anti-PETA message, Terrence invited the woman and her husband over for a barbecue next week.]

[That was NOT wise.]

[So Wendy, despite it still being her daughters fourth birthday, is in somewhat of a less than pleasant mood as she sits down to cut her promo for the week. She is sitting as rigid as ever, and her face is set in a grim determination.]

Wendy: “We’ve hit a new low.”

[And no, she’s not talking about the limbo contest at the birthday party.]

Wendy: “Over the years I have spent in in professional wrestling, I have seen many things that have disgusted me. I have seen screwjobs perpetrated on good, talented wrestlers by craven individuals who were unwilling- or unable, to win a match on their own talent. I have seen gangs of thugs corner and brutalize one person, simply because they were too weak individually. And I have seen my colleagues subject themselves to such needlessly brutal matches that it’s a miracle they can even walk afterwards, much less ever wrestle again.”

[A bit of sorrow enters Wendy’s voice through the end of that, given the memories of some of her friends after they went through “ultraviolent” matches.]

Wendy: “But never in my life have I been so revolted than by what happened Monday Night at Adrenaline Thirty-Eight. To see a man as craven and cowardly as Brian Hollywood blackmail his way into ownership of the PWX is one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen in my professional career.”

[Probably not as gross as the time Pollaski fed alka-seltzer to seagulls, but its up there.]

Wendy: “At first, I thought about resigning. How could I possibly justify myself as an advocate for honor and integrity in our sport, when I willingly competed under the banner of a such a corrupt man? How could I possibly hold my head high when I knew that every match I wrestled, every blow I took, every bead of sweat that fell from my brow, or drop of blood that leaked from my veins went to pad the pockets of such an appalling individual?”

[Wendy looks away from the camera for just a second, a mixture of shame and disgust on her face.]

Wendy: “But no, despite my reservations, I have no intention of departing Pro-Wrestling X. I’m not a quitter, and every honorable person that walks away from PWX in this troubled time makes it that much easier for Brian to mold this organization to his twisted visions. And I know that if I were to leave, that would only mean that Brian Hollywood drove me out, that when all is said and done, he won.”

[Wendy’s emerald eyes turn hard, and she looks directly into the camera.]

Wendy: “And Brian Hollywood will NEVER beat me”

[NEVAR!]

Wendy: “Brian, I find it interesting that the week after you come to power, I suddenly find myself in a match against you. It seems to me that you want to establish your power as quickly as possible, and you’re looking to make an example of someone, to show everyone just how much swagger you have now that you’re our boss. Considering how much a thorn in you’re side I’ve been, I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised that the example is to be me.”

[A short, humorless chuckle from Wendy.]

Wendy: “The catch is, you haven’t learned a single thing from our two previous encounters.”

[Wendy holds up two fingers, to indicate her two previous contests against Hollywood.]

Wendy: “Both times we’ve met, Brian, I’ve emerged victorious. But that’s not good enough for me. I don’t want to win because somebody hit me with a chair, nor do I want to win on a countout. There’s two ways I want this to end, and that’s either with the referee’s hand tapping the mat three times, or yours. Anything other than a clean pinfall or submission victory will be hollow. And I’m SICK of hollow victories over you.

[That hard glare is back, with a grim, determined smile, on her lips.]

Wendy: “After Monday night, I will make sure there will be no more excuses for you to hide behind. If you grab a chair, I will kick it out of your hand. If you run out of the ring, I will drag you back in. And if, God forbid, anyone even attempts to interfere in this match, regardless on who’s behalf, I will personally see to it that when they awaken after the show, it will be with the biggest headache of their lives.”

[Given Hollywood’s popularity with the boys, its obvious she’s more concerned about interference to ‘help’ her than anything else. ]

Wendy: “I know you’re coming off a big win over Darin Zion, but that doesn’t faze me in the least. Darin Zion was more concerned about reforming you than anything else. While that is an admirable pursuit, with someone as craven as you are, it is fruitless. Redemption can only come from an internal desire to be a better person, and you not only lack that desire, you spit on those who posses it.”

[Wendy shakes her head in disgust]

Wendy: “I don’t care about making you see the error of your ways, because no matter what I do, you won’t. All I care about is stopping you dead in your tracks. All I care about is ridding the PWX of your despicable influence. All I care about is restoring the PWX to a time when your athletic ability and your drive to succeed was what defined you, not whether or not you sucked up to a corrupt owner.”

[Disdainful snort]

Wendy: You cannot escape me, Brian. Not this time. There is nothing you can throw in my way that I cannot overcome. Twice now, I’ve been at the threshold of victory, and showing you how weak you truly are.”

[Grim smile]

Wendy: Monday night... I finish the job.

[Fade]