"Where should we go for dinner tonight?" Dad
asked. "McDonald's!" my sister
and I yelled in unison.
"Okay. Let's
go," said Dad, and the four of us, Dad, Mom, my sister and I jumped in the
car and took off for McDonald's.
Mom's birthday was three days away, but Dad had already
rigged a surprise for her. Unknown to any of us, he had already visited
McDonald's earlier in the day in order to set up the surprise.
Working with the McDonald's assistant manager, they
carefully hollowed out a large hamburger bun which would fit a tiny box
containing a gift Mom had always wanted.
The "burger" was then wrapped up in its normal foil covering,
and the employees were all alerted to the signal which Dad would give at the
drive-through.
The plan was that we would drive up to the window, Dad would
place the order, and our hamburgers & fries would be placed in a bag along
with the "gift burger". All
Dad had to do to get the plan rolling was ask us the question, "Where do
you want to go for dinner?" because he knew what our answer would be,
since McDonald's is always our
answer!
So now we drove to McDonald's. Dad placed the order and gave the signal by
asking for lots of extra mustard and ketchup.
We picked it up at the window and were on our way to our favorite picnic
table in the park three blocks away.
Sitting at the table, Dad passed our food out to each of
us. Mom unwrapped her hamburger then
held it out at arm's length, looking at it very suspiciously. She's been caught up in my father's practical
jokes on more than one occasion and this was beginning to look a little fishy.
Suddenly she exclaimed, "What kind of a hamburger did
you order for me anyway? What is
this?" As she lifted the top of the
bun she saw a colorfully wrapped gift box tucked inside. By now my sister and I had stopped eating and
were watching the proceedings carefully.
My father looked on, beaming with pleasure at yet another well-executed
plan.
Mom opened the box to find a wonderful pair of pearl
earrings as Dad leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek. "I love you Jeannie. Happy Birthday."
But that wasn't all. My father reached into his pocket, produced
two small gift-wrapped boxes, and handed them to my sister and me as he said,
"The two of you are also very special to me." Inside each box was a little heart-shaped
locket with our initials on it.
That day is one memory of growing up that I truly cherish.
Romantic Stories 
