Story 09 – Part 4 – Approval

--Then what?-- Tech asked.

“Nothing too fancy,” his mom explained. “Jordan disarmed the bomb and then tormented the bomber.”

“Oh, you should have seen the guy freaking out,” Jordan laughed. “It was priceless. He honestly thought we were just going to leave him in there until the bomb blew. All it took was a few horror stories of bombs in close quarters.”

Everyone laughed as Jordan continued his story. Tech heard the door to the Owens’ apartment open up and he spotted Mrs. Owens coming out with a birthday cake. He moved to help her but she shook her head and continued on toward the gift covered table. Tech still could not get over the sheer amount of presents on the table. It was like he was a celebrity, or perhaps the favorite mascot of the apartment complex.

Either way, Tech had definitely scored this year when it came to presents. No one had given him a chance to shake the gifts so that he could try to guess what was in the boxes. For the first time in many years there was going to be some mystery to his birthday. Tech was betting that he was going to get something really bizarre for a gift.

“Now then,” Mrs. Owens said, “I can’t remember. Is your friend coming?”

--No,-- Tech signed. --Don is out of town with his family this week.--

“That’s too bad,” Mrs. Owens responded even though she had only understood the first sign.

By then, the candles had been lit on the cake. Tech winced as he was treated to possibly the worst rendition of the birthday song in the entire universe. No one was on the same tune, let alone the same rhythm. By the end of the song, Tech had his hands over his ears while his body shook with silent laughter.

After the disaster of a song was over, everyone teased each other while cake and ice cream was passed out. After a while, the gifts were finally given to Tech as everyone waited to watch his reactions. As he looked at the array of presents, Tech found he could not decide where to start. Finally he just grabbed the closest present and started to open.

The Faber family gave him a movie and enough popcorn to last a month, or one movie if the whole apartment complex decided to watch it with him. Mrs. Owens had actually picked out two very nice shirts, which brought Tech’s total of nice shirts up to two, and Mr. Owens had obviously been the contributor when it came to the football. The government agents actually gave him a copy of one of their computer programs, and his mother gave him his own soldering gun.

“It’s not as incredible as it looks,” Jordan admitted as Tech looked at the car keys that was in Jordan’s envelope. “The car is actually a piece of junk that doesn’t run on its own. I got it for free from a pal of mine. I’ll be willing to help you repair it if you want.”

--No, way,-- Tech signed as he looked at the keys.

“Uh, sorry, I didn’t catch that last sign,” Jordan said.

“He approves,” Vire said. “And, young man, the only reason I’m allowing this is because I already know that Carmine has been letting you drive his car.”

--How much repair does it need?-- Tech signed happily. He had to repeat the signs a few more times before Jordan understood it.

“Basically, it will probably take several months and will pretty much be the same as rebuilding the car from scratch.”

--You rule,-- Tech signed. --It just can’t become plaid.--