Smiling skull ring

Last night various constituencies of my family took me out to dinner to celebrate the new book: my dad was out of town, in Alabama at one of his petroliana meets, so it was me, my mom, my oldest brother and his girlfriend, my aunt and her youngest girl, Sally, my mom's friend Caroline and her friend Lee, plus a childhood friend of theirs visiting from Atlanta, Terry Lee, who rode with Starr and Sally. So we were seated, after waiting around for Starr to arrive, and Terry Lee produces a birthday cake. On the way, they stopped at a Wal-Mart to buy a cake; a birthday cake was all they had. All of which is fine: I don't care for cake much but everybody else does. Fine. Our waiter sees the cake, and when we're through, appears with a bunch of waiters and waitresses, lights four candles, and they launch into a rousing "Happy Birthday." So I have to blow them out and everyone cheers the guy in the wheelchair. For the rest of the evening, people came by, wishing me well. It was comical. So, get wishing, people. It's my second birthday this year. Presents are mandatory.