# We make a discovery and plan a surprise.

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Posted by Kayne on May 30, 2020 at 21:02:27

Last Monday was Bank Holiday here in the U.K. when everything usually closes and we all get a day off work, this year of course everything has been shut anyway so it didn't seem like anything special. We had had our morning exercise swim and I was in my room getting changed ready to go to breakfast when my phone rang. I was surprised to see it was our form teacher.

"Hello, Kayne here, how are you, sir?" I asked (old habits die hard....)

"Very well thanks, Kayne. I wanted to catch you early, are you on your own?" he asked.

"Yes, I am, why do you ask?"

"Well, we received a parcel here that has been posted to the boarding house by Wesley's parents - seems they weren't 100% certain about your full postal address - and it contains a birthday present for him ......"

"Really? We didn't know it was his birthday ......sorry, I shouldn't interrupt." I apologised.

"That's OK, neither did I to be honest .... he was 16 last Sunday, the 17th, not yesterday. Anyway I was wondering if I could drop in to you now, I'm in the town and to save making a fuss, could I hand it over at the gates, meet you there in a few minutes?"

"Yes of course, I'll head up there now." I said.

"Good man, bye."

So I slipped out the house and got to the gates just as he arrived.

"Hi, Kayne." he said getting out of his car and leaning against the bonnet as we kept our distance "Thanks for this, Wesley obviously didn't want you all to know about his birthday but the parcel arrived and had a sticker on saying "delayed at customs" and I imagine his parents wanted him to have it on the day and I will have to let them know it has arrived late. You'll have to work out how and when you give it to him, you may want to make it a surprise in some way. Enjoying yourselves now the exams are over?"

"Yes we are, it was a relief to get them over with, just awaiting the results now I guess to see if we can finally stop worrying about them."

"Well, none of you need worry, I've had a quick glance through them as they came back over the weeks and I can say you've all done really well, beyond expectations in most cases, you are included in that group. We hope to finish all the marking this coming week and you'll get results soon after that when remote teaching is back in action. I'll leave you and the others to decide what you do with Wesley's birthday but no doubt his parents will contact him when they know he has received it. Thanks again for this, I'll leave the package here for you to pick up when I'm gone. Bye for now, Kayne."

"I'm already thinking of a good way to prank Wesley with his birthday. Is your family and everyone at school OK still?"

"Yes they are Kayne, thanks for asking. Bye for now."

And with that he was back in his car and turning it around before driving off with a cheery wave. Nice man, we get on well with him.

So Wesley turned 16 a week ago and he never even mentioned it to any of us? I'm going to have to get some big guns involved in making him sqirm - in a nice way of course.

I snuck indoors with the package and hid it in my room before finding my mum and telling her. I outlined my plan and she agreed it would probably work well and after breakfast I went to find uncle Dan. He and Wesley get on well, but there have been a few moments when Wesley has annoyed him (we all have at one time or another, to be honest). I outlined my plan and he laughed out loud when I explained his role.

"Do I really come across as a bit scary? Wow, I wish Jamie was with us to hear you say that - he'd be rolling around on the floor with laughter, almost wetting himself..... of course I'll go along with anything you want. Set it all up with the other boys to keep him out of the house after lunch - go and get wet and muddy in the woods or something and I'll get Chris and the others to help me with setting up the room, our living and dining room should be good as he won't be going round that side of the house. Tell your mum that Mary will happily share the load with getting food ready and probably best to use our kitchen. Also take this note of a website that you can print off your design of birthday card if you and the others want."

"OK, great but I think we might all get him some Amazon vouchers under the circumstances and we can print cards from there. We normally only give token presents between ourselves, if at all, or something silly like a basball cap or pair of hideous socks, but as it is his 16th we may spend a bit more ......... Thanks for your help on this."

I left uncle Dan looking really happy as he went off to find aunt Mary and I went to tell mum what we had decided. I managed to have quiet words with all the others without Wes realising that anything was going on and whilst we kept him busy we each slipped away for a few minutes to sort out a gift voucher from each of us having settled on a limit of £20 each as it was his 16th.

I had arranged with Kevin and Simon that after lunch they challenge us to going through the obstacle course in two competing teams with them as team captains. Wesley was reluctant at first but when he saw that we were serious and that we needed him to make the numbers right he agreed, So we all went and changed into the usual jeans and sweatshirts etc ready to get wet and muddy all over again and particularly to get Wesley absolutely plastered in mud and as wet as could be.

We assembled in the pool area and Tom and Simon joined us, dressed like us in jeans and sweatshirts, and we drew lots to decide who should be in which team. Simon's team was myself, Rob, Ian and Wesley. Tom's was therefore Charlie, Dave, Paul and Craig.

The first thing Simon did was to get us all to talk tactics and he took us to the far side of the pool for a "team chat" as he put it. What he really meant was that he was going to line us up on the side of the pool and then, after giving us the chat, walk along our line and push each of backwards into the water as he shouted "You can win this (Wesley etc)" for each of us. The other team fell about laughing as we swam to the side and hauled our wet a*s*s out of the water and stood dripping on the side wondering what was coming next.

"What was that all about?" Wesley demanded, looking irritated.

"I need to make sure you won't hesitate to get stuck in for fear of getting wet or muddy ....... so now you ARE wet that won't be a problem will it? Just the mud to go now. Come on, follow me." Simon grinned.

We followed the others out to the woods and Simon was true to his word and as soon as we reached the swam area, he demanded that we jump in and roll around to get really muddy, so we obliged and then moved on to the first obstacle, the muddy ditch crawl under wires.

Simon's psychology theory was right, being soaked and already muddy we all threw ourselves into the muddy ditch and crawled like our lives depended on it. Tom and Simon had devised a race for each team for each obstacle. We were timed individually for completing each obstacle where it wasn't just a "Finish" or "Fail" type of obstacle like the monkey bars, and then the points were added up for times taken on 8 points for quickest down to 1 point for slowest. They even had a stop watch, clip-board and score sheet. We've never done that before and I don't think Chris and Jamie ever did either.

Simon's strategy of getting us wet and mud soaked first seemed to work as our team finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th. I came 3rd. Wesley came 1st, mainly I think because he was unusually grumpy and obviously didn't want to be out getting wet and filthy.

The obstacle was walking along the log above a mud pit. Quickest along got points, falling off was a fail. Wearing mud covered shoes made it difficult to get any grip, so it was really a test of balance, not so easy in wet, mud heavy clothes flapping around as you moved. Only Dave fell off when his foot slipped as he tried to hurry; unfortunately - and painfully for him but hilariously for the rest of us - he ended up falling astride of the log and then slipping sideways into the mud below as he groaned and clutched his groin, poor lad. Again our team won because of Dave's "fail".

Next we used the same log over the mud pit to sit astride it and try and take down one of the opposing team. We were matched up roughly by height and weight so I ended up against Charlie as we are almost the same height and build. Charlie was very good (I have to say that as he beat me) and we had a good wrestle before I fell off face first into the mud pit. Our team was beaten on that contest by one point.

Next we went onto the monkey bars. 10 points if you completed it, five points for getting half way and nil points if you didn't get even that far. I think this is the most difficult obstacle as it requires a certain amount of strength and lots of good co-ordination. First time effort by me was dismal really, I got half-way and then missed grabbing the next bar and lost my momentum swinging along and couldn't get it going again so ended up hanging by both arms and trying to swing my body back and forth far enough to let go one hand and grab the next bar. I gave up in the end and just dropped into the mud. Tom had been out earlier in the day to top-up the mud everywhere with more water from the stream, so the mud was deeper and more sloppy than the day before, it properly soaked me through again which felt great but raised a few ribald comments as I climbed out and my sodden jeans and sweatshirt clung to me very revealingly; great feeling, not such a good look...... Wesley completed it quickest by zooming along swinging from bar to bar so quickly we all just stood and watched in amazement.

We moved on to the deep flooded trench with logs across, alternately above the water (5 of them) and below the surface (7 of them). You have to go over the above water ones and under the submerged ones, so there is no escaping getting totally soaked at least seven times as you duck under each time. It is the most energy sapping obstacle mainly because of hauling yourself over the logs that are a foot or so above the surface and the water (on that day anyway) was chest deep and you are wearing heavy wet, muddy clothes which can restrict easy movement. Charlie and I did it once having stripped down to our boxers and it was so much easier to do. Our team completed the obstacle consistently quicker than the others.

The final obstacle is the two walls of logs, one about 6 feet and the second about 10 feet. You can get over the first on your own but it definitely needs to be a team effort on the taller on. It went well for our team and we eventually beat the others by 2 min 23 secs.

The final obstacle is the zip-wire. Which is great fun and not something that can be timed really so Tom and Simon had decided to run the competition based on what they decided were the most spectacular dismount into the mud pit at the end, basically who can drop off the carrier and make the biggest splash into the mud below. That was fun, so after the first go, we all insisted that there be another couple of rounds just so we could enjoy splashing down a few more times.

Of course at the end of all this Tom and Simon were still dry and clean apart from the odd splash. Tom tried to protest that they were Team Coaches rather than players so we ended up pushing him into the mud at the end of the zip-wire and - surprise, surprise - after that he insisted that Simon complete the course along with him. To give him credit, Simon agreed with hardly any protest, so we headed back to the start and watched them get as wet and muddy as we all were.

We scored Tom and Simon in the same way they had scored us and as well as Simon beating Tom fairly comprehensively, their scores added to those we had already got, meant that in the end Simon's team won by quite a margin. We celebrated by jumping in the swamp and we all spent a while splashing around, laying or sitting in the mud or just enjoying soaking as we chatted about the competition before we headed back to the house via the flooded dell where we swung out over the water and dropped in a few times to get rid of the worst of the mud. It was funny seeing everyone drop into the water as muddy brow colour from head to toe and then emerge with all the colours of their jeans and tops back in view, to say nothing of skin and hair colours. There were lots of nice views of shiny wet clothes clinging and being stretched across bodies as we clambered up the sides of the dell out of the water and as we walked back to the house. We had another water fight as we hosed off the rest of the mud and dirt as we milled around in the garage yard under the spray and pointed the hoses at each other.

After that we showered and changed into swim shorts before jumping in the pool.

I left the others in the pool, dried off and pulled on a tee before going to check on preparations and found my mum, uncle Dan, Chris and the others just finishing off the preparations for Wesley's surprise. They had done brilliantly, the dining table laden with plates of sandwiches, cakes and other party food. Chris and Kevin had put up balloons and a couple of Happy Birthday banners and the terrace outside the patio doors had been set with tables and chairs.

"Where did you get all this stuff?" I asked uncle Dan.

"From a box in the garage actually." he laughed "We've always had a few party decorations around from when Jamie and Chris used to throw surprise parties for their friends when they were younger. That's a good parenting tip for you in future, just be sure to renew your stock after each party. And your mum, Mary and Pam have been busy doing the food as well as raiding the freezers."

"It looks great, thanks so much for this." I said.

"What is the plan from now on - it is getting on for 4:30 now......" uncle Dan asked.

"All the boys are in the pool at the moment so I was thinking that after 5 o'clock I could suggest that we all get changed and get some tea. And at that point you could make some excuse to "summon" Wesley to see you in the lounge here. Meanwhile the rest of us would all have dashed around the side of the house to the terrace and be here ready to greet him."

"That sounds good, but they don't have to change so long as they are not actually dripping wet; just stay in swim-shorts and tees, everyone will be sitting outside anyway and will probably want to go in the pool again later."

"OK, I can get everyone out of the water and dried off before we come round, apart from Wesley they know what is happening." I said.

So that is what we did. I suggested to everyone that as we were going to have tea shortly out of the pool area we should be sensible and get a bit dry rather than traipse through the house in wet clothes. As we sat by the pool uncle Dan appeared looking slightly annoyed, he had a book in his hand, which he held up as he approached.

"I want a word with you, young Wesley; what have I said before about borrowing my books without telling me first? Get dried off and come and see me in our lounge in five minutes ........... don't be late." he said and then turned on his heel and left.

"Wow, mate are you in trouble or what?" Craig said.

"No, I'm not ........ I haven't borrowed another book of his without asking, I wouldn't do that after the last time." Wesley said, looking perplexed.

"Better not be late for him, you know he dislikes people being late for things." Dave said "I'm just going to get a tee from my room, my shorts are almost dry now."

And with that everyone else made various excuses to leave until it was just me and Wesley sitting by the pool. Wesley got up and pulled on the tee he had left on the table earlier.

"Wish me luck." he grinned "I'll just explain it wasn't me ....."

"Sure probably just a misunderstanding I said." I said as he walked off. I immediately dashed out the door to the garden and ran round the house to the terrace outside uncle Dan and aunt Mary's lounge and joined all the others.

Wesley tapped on the lounge door before walking in and his face was an absolute picture as uncle Dan opened it and ushered him in. We all burst into a rendition of Happy Birthday and he looked around at all of us and the decorations and then started crying tears of joy as he grinned widely, quite speechless.

After we had given him our gifts and the one from his parents, we had tea sitting in the sun and then everyone returned to the pool and we threw Wesley back in the water before joining him. Everyone ended up in the pool after that, dressed for it or not, including uncle Dan, who was pushed in by Wesley, and all the other grown-ups.

Follow Ups:

- Re: We make a discovery and plan a surprise. Ry 11:48:44 6/01/2020 (2)
  - Re: We make a discovery and plan a surprise. Nick 12:21:45 6/07/2020 (0)
  - Re: We make a discovery and plan a surprise. Kayne 20:39:10 6/01/2020 (0)

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