It was 10:34 in the morning and Max had just woke up. He rolled out from under the covers and brushed his teeth. Then he merrily ran out of the bathroom and into the living room. Patricia was sleeping with light blue sheets up to her stomach.

Gently, Max tapped his mother on the shoulder. Patricia slowly opened her brown eyes and smiled up at him.

"Good morning, birthday boy," Patricia grinned.

"Good morning, Mommy. Can I open my presents now?" he begged. "Please?"

"Take a bath first."

"Then can I open the presents?"

"Maybe, maybe not."

Max ran to his room. Patricia shook her head and smiled.

Later, Max was wearing his clothes for the day: a purple sweater with a round, white collar, a light blue pair of jeans, and white sneakers.

"You can go to Kimmy's while I get everything ready," Patricia said, after putting her breakfast plate into the sink.

"Okay, mom." After stopping by his room to retrieve his Guess Who, Max left the apartment. When he got to Kimmy's apartment, he knocked on the door.

"Who?" asked Karen's voice.

"It's Max."

Karen opened the door, wearing a long sleeve, sky blue blouse, a blue pair of jeans, and white sneakers. "Happy seventh birthday, Max."

"Thank you."

When Karen stood aside, Max walked in the apartment. Her hand was still holding the golden doorknob.

"Kimmy's in her room. I'll be back in a little while." She walked into the hallway, shutting the door behind her.

Max walked to Kimmy's room and through the open door. Kimmy was sitting at her table with her legs crossed and her back turned to him. She was wearing a baggy, turquoise sweater with dark blue pants and a pair of turquoise and white sneakers. Her straightened hair freely flowed down her back. Carefully setting his square box on the floor, Max tiptoed over to Kimmy and put his hands over her eyes. She reached back and felt up his hands, wrists, and arms.

"Peek-a-boo," said Max, leaning to her left and kissing her cheek. He let go of her eyes and she turned around.

"Hi, Max. Happy birthday." She gave him a big hug and kissed his lips.

"Thanks. Now we're both seven years old."

"At least until next month. Then I'll be older again." Max noticed the white paper on the table. Beside it was a round, black paint tray and a red paintbrush. He looked at his hands and noticed that some yellow paint had spread from her hands to his. "I colored a picture for you."

Two smiling stick figures were standing side to side, holding hands. Above them were the words 'Max and Kimmy', painted in the two's respective favorite colors, green and yellow. Max, a plain stick figure, was on the left, and Kimmy, who had a skirt and whose head was surrounded by long, scribbled hair, was on the right.

"Wow, that's cool," Max said. "Thank you."

"My mommy said we're going somewhere later for your birthday."

"Where?"

"I don't know. My mommy didn't want me to tell you, so she didn't tell me. It must be someplace really, really fun."

"Hope so. I brought Guess Who. Wanna play?"

"Yeah."

Max pulled the red and blue sets and let Kimmy have the blue one.

About an hour later, there were a few knocks on Kimmy's door.

"Come in," Kimmy said.

Karen opened the door. She was wearing a green party hat with purple horizontal stripes on it. "Max, you can come home now," she said. "Grab your jacket, Kimmy."

Kimmy picked up Mickey Mouse and held his torso in her left hand. She then reached into her closet and retrieved her denim jacket. Max picked up the drawing and the three of them walked down out of the room and to the door. Karen opened the door and she and Max walked out while Kimmy closed it.

"Let's race," suggested Max.

Eagerly, the kids rushed up the empty hall and around the corner, while Karen patiently walked. When they all got to Max's, Karen opened the unlocked door and they went inside. Max went to the living room and could not believe what he saw. In the middle of the room was a Power Wheels Adventure Team jeep. In the passenger seat was a foot-tall rectangle wrapped in red paper with a gold bow and a small, white card on top.

"Oh, junk! I got my own jeep! Just like on TV!" Max hopped into the driver's seat and tore the wrapping paper off the box. Under the wrapping paper was a blue container with a label that read, '950 Legos', with assorted colored lego blocks in the background on all four sides. "Thank you, Karen," said Max after he read the card.

Karen and Kimmy were sitting on the couch, watching him.

"You're welcome," replied Karen.

Patricia entered the living room wearing a green party hat with yellow stars across it. A black camera was in her right hand. She had a stack of green party hats in her left hand and handed one to Kimmy. Kimmy put the hat on her head and carefully snapped the rubber band on her chin. Her hat had purple swirls around it.

"Can Mickey have one?" Kimmy requested.

"I don't think these hats will fit him," replied Patricia. She left the room, then returned to give Kimmy a green hat with thin, vertical lines.

Because Mickey's flat ears were so far apart, the hat could barely fit. Kimmy folded his ears together and then put the hat on. It slipped down until it covered his eyes and rested on his snout. She then held the doll upside down to make sure it would stay.

"Perfection."

"Happy birthday, Max," Patricia said. "Kimmy, hop in the jeep." The girl walked to the passenger side and sat in the seat. "Say cheese."

Patricia's rectangular camera was wide and thin. The flash was all the way on the right side and tiny lens was close to the left.

The kids turned their heads to Patricia and said, "Cheeeeese!". Multiple spots appeared before their eyes when the camera's flash went off.

"Can I drive my jeep now? Please?"

Patricia looked at the round, black clock that was hanging on the wall behind the couch. According to the gold hands and the gold digits, it was 1:45. "Not right now. We have to get going."

"Going where?"

"Someplace nice."

"It's a surprise," Karen interjected. "And the longer we stay here, the less time we'll be able to stay there."

"I'm ready to get going."

"Me, too," added Kimmy.

All four of them were soon in Patricia's car, riding through an interstate. Eagerly, Max he looked out the windows, looking for some clue as to their destination. For the longest, he could only see trees and traffic, with the occasional stores. Eventually, Kimmy drifted off to sleep. More buildings began to appear, including Palmer Video and Roy Rogers. Finally, Patricia slowed down and turned into a parking lot.

"Kimmy! Kimmy! Wake up, we're here!" Max anxiously shook his friend's arm.

Kimmy awoke with her head against the window. Groggily, she looked at Max's excited face. After rubbing her eyes, she turned her head and looked out the window. Because a red minivan was beside the car, she couldn't see where they were.

First Patricia, then Karen exited the car. Max opened his door and Kimmy followed suit. They all gathered behind the Lincoln Town. Kimmy's jaw dropped in delight when she saw where they were.

At the end of the large, crowded parking lot, there was a wide, white building. A horizontal row of black-tinted windows was to the right of the two black-tinted, glass doors. Thick, red columns with blue bases were on either side of the entrance. Above the doors was a large triangle that extended to the roof. Inside the triangle, there was a crooked, red box with the word 'Discovery' in small, yellow letters, sandwiched between a much bigger 'ZO' on top and 'NE' on the bottom.

"DZ Discovery Zone!" Kimmy squealed.

Max snickered and held her hand as the four of them walked toward the building. Upon their entrance, the kids were mesmerized at the sight before them.

"First, we'll eat the cake, then we'll play," Patricia announced.

Later, everyone sang "Happy Birthday' to Max, then Patricia set the cake in front of him. The brown cake was round and a thin, loopy line of white frosting went around the edges. 'D' in blue frosting and 'Z' in red frosting were in the middle. Seven green candles were above the 'DZ'.

"Make a wish, Max," said Karen.

Max closed his eyes for a moment and blew the candles out.

"What did you wish for?" asked Kimmy.

"If I tell you, it won't come true," explained Max.

Patricia cut the cake. She gave a piece to Max, Kimmy, Karen, and then herself.

"Let's go bounce on the moon!" suggested Max, finished with his cake. He went running to the playplace. After leaving Mickey with Karen, Kimmy was right behind the birthday boy.

With other children, they climbed up the big orange, red, and yellow boxes. The inflatable steps sunk a little from the weight of their hands and knees, but immediately reformed when they left. When they reached the orange and yellow top steps, they jumped onto the red and blue mat, landing on their bare feet. Along with five other giggling boys and girls, they bounced around like they would on their beds. The mat inflated, deflated, and wrinkled under everyone's stomping.

Max constantly rolled and tumbled on the mat, nearly hitting the other children. Kimmy was hopping and sometimes allowing herself to land on her belly or butt.

"Watch me, watch me!" Max said to Kimmy. He bounced twice, leaned his head forward in the air, and did a midair somersault that ended on his back.

Smiling, Kimmy rolled her eyes and jumped over him. Standing up, Max held Kimmy's hands and they jumped in circles together. Playfully, Kimmy let Max go, and they fell to opposite sides hard, prompting some of the surrounding children to laugh.

Then Kimmy crawled through a red-rimmed tunnel that was attached to a blue square. Other kids were also crawling through, splitting up into different connected tubes. At the end of the long tunnel was an orange, cylinder slide. She put her legs straight out in front of her and slid forward. Her arms went into the air and she quickly went down, hitting the ball pit where seven kids were playing.

Eventually, Max got tired of the moon bounce and crawled through a tunnel, followed and preceded by more kids. Inside, he found three different paths and chose the one on his left. He crawled and crawled until he ended up behind a slanted line of thin, yellow rollers. The walls of this tunnel were blue and had round windows with the rest of the obstacle course in view. Arms at his sides, he slid down, his backside bouncing against the bumpy ride, and ended up in a ball pit.

A redheaded girl fell from the air with a short spin and landed on her back in the giant mess of colorful, plastic balls. Kimmy looked up and noticed a trapeze bar that was held by two blue strings. She walked past young catchers, swimmers, and splashers, to a raised, blue platform and jumped off, but missed the bar. Returning to the soft, blue mat, she backed off as much as she could for a small running start, then leaped. This time, she gripped the trapeze bar in both hands, but soon fell on her back.

Max scurried through a holey tunnel and entered another ball pit. A few feet ahead of him, several kids were climbing a blue triangle. He went to the base and grabbed a black rope that hung on the sides of the mountain. Putting one foot in front of the other, he paced three big steps. His left foot suddenly slipped and he kicked his feet, sliding them along the surface while still hanging onto the rope. He slid down the wall of the blue obstacle and landed on his feet.

The kids had a ball at the colorful wonderland. Unfortunately, the employees would not let them bring any balls home. The playplace was so huge that the pair had rarely seen each other, despite spending hours inside. Patricia and Karen had a very difficult time finding them. Max nearly cried when it was time to leave.

"This was the bestest birthday ever!" declared Max as Karen held the door of their building open.

"I can't believe you're still saying that," laughed Kimmy. They ended up at the top of the stairs. "Goodnight."

"Max, Kimmy has another present for you," Karen said, smugly.

Max looked at Kimmy. "You do?"

Kimmy looked at Karen. "I do?"

"Yeah. You've got to give him a birthday kiss."

With her eyes and mouth wide open in timidness, Kimmy looked at Max, then back at her mother and vigorously shook her head.

Max put his left hand over his mouth and hid his growing smile. "Can't do that." His voice was muffled by his covering hand.

"Aww, are you shy?" teased Patricia.

Gently, Karen put her hands on her daughter's upper arms and turned her around so she could face her friend. "Give him a kiss," Karen commanded with a grin. "Give him a birthday kiss. That's your bestest buddy, right?"

Patricia held her son's wrist and pulled his hand away from his mouth. His cheeks were red, as were Kimmy's, as they gazed at each other with their faces just inches apart. Bashfully, Max puckered his lips while trying to stop smiling. Kimmy leaned forward and kissed him on the lips as quickly as she could. The two then turned to look at their mothers, smiling brightly.

"Awww," was their mothers' responses. Of course, the boy and girl blushed at kissing in front of their parents for the first time.