Pen to the Paper 20

I slapped the red balloon Nick was holding out of his hands. “What is this?” I asked as the ballon floated to the ceiling.

“A balloon! Don’t you think that today is worth celebrating?”

“Why? What’s so special about today?”

“It’s the twentieth anniversary of Pen to the Paper!” Nick exclaimed, pulling a noise maker from his pocket and blowing it in my face. I pushed the extended half out of my face and stared at him with an unimpressed look.

“Nick, that is not how time works.”

“Then explain to me how we can be on Pen to the Paper 20 and it not be our 20th anniversary.”

“Nick, have you been doing this for 20 years?”

Embarrassed, Nick hid the noise maker behind his back. “It—uh—it was just a prank.”

“Alright, dude. What do we have planned for the show tonight? You said that you had this massive thing planned for tonight’s event. Told me that I don’t have to worry about anything, blah blah blah. What’s the plan?”

Nick stuck his hand behind his head and laughed nervously. “I don’t think that you are going to like it.”

“Humor me.”

*****

It was a calm day. The wind was almost nonexistent, there was not even a little bit of turbulence. I pulled the throttle out the rest of the way and pitched down a little more dramatically. Entering into ground effect, I pulled the nose up and let my plane slowly sink to the ground. I stepped on the brakes and slowly rolled to a stop across the platform in the middle of Pen to the Paper arena.

Coming to a complete stop, I turned everything off and stepped out of the small aircraft. “That was completely illegal and all Nick’s idea,” I said into the microphone. Fireworks went off behind me, displaying across the entire sky “20th ANNIVERSARY!!!”

I looked at the plane behind me. Painted on the side in gold paint was a big 20. “So, Nick thought that today was the twentieth anniversary of Pen to the Paper. Apparently, I am thirty-seven. Do I look thirty-seven? No! Your strapping young host is only eighteen! And he looks twelve! After all that Nick has done, you would think he would learn his lesson and stop insulting me. Maybe I shouldn’t have paid for his dinner last month…

“Anyway, we did not have time to plan a new event. We also spent a ton of money on it that we couldn’t get refunded. So, everyone, tonight, after the announcement, you are all invited to a banquet. What for? Well, to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Pen to the Paper that is still yet to happen! And, yeah, the cake is a big twenty. Looks delicious.

“Well, you guys know what time it is! Pen to the Paper is back, baby, back, baby, back!”