A Little Spice

In Response to the “British Birthday Challenge”

By Knight Immortal

            Birthdays.

            For as long as he could remember, Devon never had a very fond recollection of his birthday. When he was a youth, circumstances at home always just happened to occur to ruin his birthday, and after a period of time, he found himself ignoring their existence, so that he wouldn’t be disappointed year after year. This continued on into his teen years. When he was 16, he had his heart broken on his birthday after his lady friend at the time had made a remarkable deal over his birthday, and then promptly broke up with him while cheating on one of his former friends. It was just another blow to his birthday ego.

            As he grew older throughout the years, he did everything in his power to forget his birthday, and he even grew to convince himself that it was nothing more than a date on a calendar that signified that he was just getting older. And just to put the topping on the proverbial cake, something would always happen during that date on the calendar, whether it be an invasion of a country, the death of a friend, the diagnosis of illness of a friend, an injury, a bad decision, a blow to the ego, it just seemed to happen.

            To ease some of the mental pain, he even went so far as to hide his birthdate on his personal information files, he even worked to hide it from Wilton, though Wilton already knew. Wilton respected Devon’s wishes, though he would give Devon the occasional bonus, or a bottle of a fine wine, as a gesture of friendship, not as a birthday present. With this present family, Devon found himself having to continually hide his birth date, which was not an easy task, because whether it was Bonnie or April, both were continually making efforts to find out. They just couldn’t help themselves. They couldn’t understand the concept of not celebrating any day they could possibly throw a celebration for, and they never gave up.

            For years, Devon found himself having to bribe KITT with some tidbit of information or some promise of a new item for his already growing repertoire of gadgets, so that KITT wouldn’t ‘spill the beans’ about his birthday. That, as well was growing increasingly tougher.

            Even Michael was in on the hunt, primarily because of Michael’s continuing need to solve all mysteries that were presented before him, no matter what. He couldn’t live without a mystery solved, and Bonnie wouldn’t let him back off of it, so on every occasion that Michael suspected was Devon’s birthday, he would push to get confirmation. Devon never gave him the satisfaction of knowing that he was pretty darn close.

            For a very long time, Devon had managed to keep the secret near and dear to him, and away from the prying eyes of technology and the peeping tomettes that utilized them. Until now. Bonnie had managed to trip onto one little snippet that he had neglected to properly hide. It was like finding gold for her, and she spread it like wild fire. For well over three weeks since she had found the pesky little byte that eluded Devon’s sweeps, Devon had found himself begging her and everybody else whom she had told that he didn’t want to celebrate his birthday, that he didn’t want anybody to even acknowledge the existence of his birthday. He had to virtually beg Bonnie and everybody else to respect his wishes, which made him feel very old in itself, because back in the older days, respecting somebody’s wishes didn’t require total begging, much less repeated begging.

            After three weeks of persistent begging, Devon thought that he had calmed down the whole birthday nonsense, and as the day hit, he actually did feel confident that he had put the whole ridiculous thing to rest.

            He stepped into his office to put his typical daily routine into motion. The first thing he noticed was that the light on his phone was flashing. That was generally a signal that a very important message was waiting for him on the voice messaging service. He took a deep breath, and sat down behind his desk. He picked up the phone, and tapped in his retrieval code.

            “Devon, we are having some difficulties with the security systems at the new Museum of Art. There is going to be a small dinner party there tonight, but I would like for you to meet me there at 7 pm to go over the system diagrams and programming. I am stuck at this place, but I feel that it is extremely important that we look into this matter while being in the place in question. Call me back to confirm.” Jennifer noted.

            Devon sighed. That new Museum of Art, while an absolute visual masterpiece was a security pain in the rear, primarily because of the humans involved within it.

            There was a knock at the door. Bonnie peeked her head in. Devon nodded her in, bracing himself for any residual birthday nonsense that may escape from her. Bonnie stepped in, a set of manila file folders in hand.

            “Another two cases came in over night,” Bonnie reported, putting the folders down on his desk. “Neither is of urgent quality, I already called in Michael on one of them, though, because it is on his way back. I figured it would save us some mileage and some problems. And of course, the Museum of Art security system is still giving raspberries.”

            “So I heard, since Cathy is not in yet, could you please get me Jennifer’s number, she wants to meet with me tonight at the Museum during a dinner party to go over business. The woman truly is a hard worker, quite like her father.” Devon noted.

            “Of course,” Bonnie stated, writing the number down on a pad next to Devon’s phone.

            “You have it memorized?” Devon asked.

            “Of course, the woman constantly wants to know about every single penny and project that goes on within the labs, and generally wants two and three reports a day.” Bonnie noted.

            “Why doesn’t she go through me for this?” Devon growled.

            “Because she figures that you will put your foot down, and I won’t, because I like my job,” Bonnie answered. “I will be in the lab if you need me. Michael’s report is already in, and is already filed. He and KITT are fine.”

            “Good,” Devon stated, dialing the number.

            “I shall speak to you later,” Bonnie said, as she walked out the door.

            The tension went out of Devon’s shoulders as he showed relief that she hadn’t mentioned the ‘b’ word. He dialed Jennifer’s number. He was put directly through.

            “Hello, Devon,” Jennifer stated. “You got my message?”

            “Yes, why can we not meet earlier?” Devon asked.

            “Because I have meetings all day long, silly.” Jennifer replied, lighthearted. “Besides, I would rather deal with business than this dinner party anyway. Art parties are definitely not my thing, I am being forced to go, and I would definitely like to at least be able to talk to somebody who may know something about what is going on in there.”

            “Very well, I shall be there at 7. I presume it is black tie affair?” Devon asked.

            “Of course,” Jennifer replied.

            “I shall be there.” Devon stated.

            “Thanks, Devon, I will see you there, good bye,” Jennifer said, hanging up on Devon.

            Devon returned the phone back to its normal state and sighed. Jennifer could be such a pain at times. There were times that she showed her father’s side, but most of the time, it was mostly her mother that shined through. He was kind of surprised that she didn’t mention the birthday thing either. Maybe they got the hint.

            Devon spent the morning quietly going through his normal paperwork shuffling routine. There was not a single interruption. As the time headed towards Noon, Devon pulled away from his desk and rubbed his eyes as he looked at the clock. Not a single call. Not a single visit. Nobody had even dared to come in and wish him a Happy Birthday. It was actually more quiet than it had been in the past. It was nice…yet unnerving. He stood up and went over to the RCS. He tapped in his code, and waited for the signal to go through.

            Eventually, Michael appeared on the screen. He was behind KITT’s wheel, en route to somewhere.

            “Yo, Devon!” Michael greeted.

            “Hello, Michael. I heard that your last case went well,” Devon stated.

            “Yeah, you’d be proud of us, we didn’t even wreck a single thing,” Michael chuckled.

            “I didn’t have to file a single insurance report, Devon, for once, one of the cases turned out quite well with a satisfactory and non-destructive ending,” KITT added.

            “KITT doesn’t even have to come in for a visit with his doc, it was strange to actually have Bonnie agree to reroute us,” Michael stated.

            “I truly do appreciate that, and I congratulate you. How is this new case going?” Devon asked.

            “Oh, it should be wrapped up in a couple of days, it’s a simple escort job. A few hours carrying precious cargo from point a to point b, should be pretty easy even for us,” Michael chuckled. “How are you doing, Devon?”

            “I am well, it seems that the Museum of Art security system is giving problems again, so I will have to address that later on in the day,” Devon stated.

            “Why is it so difficult for the staff to learn how to utilize the computer operations systems? There is nothing wrong with the security system, just the humans who refuse to accept it,” KITT stated.

            “Whoah, down boy,” Michael chuckled. “Good luck, that whole place is becoming a serious pain in the rear.”

            “You’re telling me,” Devon sighed. “Well, I just wanted to check in to see how you were doing. I shall check in later.”

            “Cool, talk to you later, Devon,” Michael replied.

            “Very well,” Devon nodded, and cut off the transmission. He frowned. He figured that Michael wouldn’t miss the opportunity to drop mention of his birthday now that he knew.

            Somehow, the fact that people knew now, and weren’t saying anything was becoming really uncomfortable for Devon. He didn’t know why, but it was.

            There was another knock at the door.

            “Enter,” Devon urged, almost too enthusiastically.

            RCIII entered, with his duffel bag slung over his shoulder. “Hey boss, I just wanted ta’ drop in before I jetted out, to see if there were any more instructions fo’ me.”

            “No, I think that you are all set,” Devon stated with a smile.

            “Coo’,” RC responded. “Well, I guess I’m off to catch my plane to Chicago, with any luck, the base up there’ll have dinna’ ready for me. See ya in a couple of days.”

            RC shook Devon’s hand.

            “Good luck and godspeed,” Devon wished.

            “Ya got it,” RC winked and smiled, and left the office. As the door closed, Devon’s eyebrows knitted with discomfort. This wasn’t right somehow, but it was what he had asked for.

            Devon spent the rest of the afternoon, wandering around the Knight Estate, dropping into the different places, checking up on what they were doing, and seeing if anybody would remember. He even pushed fate and dropped in on Bonnie, who was hard at work creating a new, large circuit board. Nothing happened, people acted as they would any other day of the week, and there was not a single mention of his birthday.

            By the end of the day, into the evening, Devon found himself getting ready for the dinner party, with his mind off in another world, thinking about how miserable he was now that people knew, and that they were in fact following his orders in not mentioning it. He felt kind of lonely.

            He made sure that his crisp black suit and bow tie were on his body perfectly. He looked at himself in the mirror, and counted the number of wrinkles that were appearing. He looked at his image with disdain, and quickly turned away. The Foundation house seemed very quiet as he passed through it, and realized that everybody had truly gone home, as part of the norm. Even Bonnie was gone.

            He got into his Mercedes, which had been parked in the main lot, and pulled out. Like the professional he was, he shifted his mind to the situation at hand that he was driving out to deal with; the troublesome security system that worked just fine if the staff of the Museum would just learn how to enter codes every night.

            At least it was an opportunity to get out, rather than sit at home and mope and wonder why people actually obeyed his orders when ordinarily in situations like this, they didn’t.

            He pulled into the parking lot of the Museum, and found that it was fairly well packed. Devon sighed. Part of him wanted company on this night. The other part was truly trying to mope. He parked, got out, locked the car, and walked in through the side entrance, which required his pass card. He slipped it through, and entered the room. There was the sounds of people echoing through the building from the downstairs area. He made his way through the darkened echoing halls of the museum, to the stairs that led down. He made his way down the stairs into the main room, and came to a stop.

            ….There was no party.

            ….Nobody but one person was there.

            The main room was dimmed, but in the center was a single table, with two candle lit table settings on it. Off to the side, were helium filled balloons that had the words “Happy Birthday” stenciled across them. Underneath them was a pile of presents classically wrapped and decorated. A woman shut off a tape recorder, that had provided the voices of the people. She was elegantly dressed in a subtle tan dress that showed off her aging, but still existent curves.

            “Happy birthday, Devon,” Marietta Mattheson stated.

            For a moment, Devon remembered the last time he had seen this well seasoned, classy woman, when Michael was called in to solve a series of robberies in a small California town, that was being pinned on a group of drag racers. Marietta’s niece was involved with one of them, and Michael was pressed to find out who the real culprits were. In a particularly rough investigation, Michael and KITT eventually found out that it was the town’s Police Chief that was orchestrating the crimes, and the drag racers were freed. This bright, sassy woman was a sight to behold then, and she was a sight to behold now. She had aged well from the time that he had known her before, and his heart still jumped a bit when he saw her now.

            “I don’t understand…” Devon uttered.

            “I was called in, because I was told that you didn’t celebrate birthdays, but your team didn’t want you to go through life without one fabulous birthday, and that I could definitely help. I didn’t hesitate, especially when Michael Knight came and picked me up.” Marietta stated, with a sparkle to her eye.

            “This…” Devon tried to protest.

            “ Devon, it’s here, let’s make the best of it, shall we?” Marietta urged.

            “Of course,” Devon admitted, as he went around and dealt with Marietta’s seat like a gentleman, then sat at his own. The smell of the food was scrumptious, and once he removed the heating domes from them, he was greeted with the sight of some of his favorite noveau foods. He poured the chilled wine for both he and Marietta. He went through as if it were a standard dinner date.

Suggested Listening: “Lost In Love” by Air Supply

            And that is how it progressed. Devon found himself immensely relaxed, and enjoying dinner. He and Marietta talked about everything from how their lives had progressed through the years, to politics, to romance, and everything possible in between. A record player had been provided, and they even shared a dance in their romantic museum that they had all to themselves. Marietta eventually convinced Devon to open his presents. He reluctantly opened them, finding personal tokens of appreciation from everybody, including Jennifer, Bonnie, Michael, even KITT. His presents ranged from everything from Argyle Socks, to Antique Clocks. style= "mso-spacerun:yes">  He and Marietta walked through the Museum, taking in the beautiful works of art.

            When Marietta and Devon finally ended the night, it was already well past midnight, and both were pleasantly buzzed. The awaiting limo took Marietta back to her hotel, while a driver came in and took Devon home. For the first time ever, he managed to enjoy his birthday, and through some miracle, nothing bad had happened.

            The next morning, Devon managed to get out of bed, get dressed, and began to look around the house. He knew that the team was there, and he knew that they were hiding. He went to his office, and found it deserted. He made a good search of each room in between, and found them empty. He had a pretty good idea of where they were, but he was giving them some time to sweat it out.

            He finally made his way over to the area in which the team were hiding. The Garage. They were all huddled around KITT, watching something on the video screens within KITT. Most likely reviewing his personal life and birthday ‘party’ that they had orchestrated. They quickly cut off the screen as Devon got closer, and they all looked up at Devon with wide eyes. Some were even eyeing ways to escape.

            “Ok, who was behind this?” Devon asked.

            There was silence.

            “I will admit, you all planned this remarkably well, despite my wishes to forget my birthday.” Devon stated.

            “Oh, come on, Devon. You are human, and you know as well as we do, that once everybody knows, it feels kind of shallow, lonely and empty if people don’t acknowledge it,” Michael stated.

            “And we just didn’t feel right about not doing something, but knew that you would stomp just about everything that we tried down if you knew about it,” Bonnie added. “We wanted to break the stigma that you have created for yourself about your birthday, and prove that it is not such a bad day, and that it could be a wonderful one.”

            “So, who orchestrated it? Who came up with it? It didn’t have your flair, Jennifer. It didn’t have your flashiness, Bonnie, and it was too highly ingenious for you, Michael, so I am wondering how you managed to come up with and orchestrate this plan?” Devon asked, his voice still slightly low and calculating.

            “Hey…” Michael mumbled at being so clearly insulted.

            “It was me,” KITT spoke up.

            “Pardon?” Devon asked, genuinely surprised.

            “It was KITT,” Michael agreed. “For a very long time, he had been putting this together, and we just followed his plan.”

            “You have made everybody else’s birthday pleasurable, including even creating one for me, despite the fact that I was not actually born. I felt that you deserved something special, and I knew that any attempts by the rest would be met with adversity, however, I knew that if certain aspects were met and observed, that your objections would be limited. This party had to be catered to you, your needs, and your exquisite tastes.” KITT replied. “We all came to the same consensus that despite your pre-existing apprehensions over having a celebration of your birthday, that it was the least we could do for you, considering all that you have done with us, and that it would be an ideal opportunity to attempt to alleviate some of the pressures that caused your apprehension and superstitions against celebrations on your day of birth.”

            “KITT did this?” Devon uttered, flabbergasted.

            “He orchestrated all of it,” Michael admitted. “He even gave us ideas of what to give you as presents, and everything he said, made sense.”

             Devon remained silent for a moment as he collected his thoughts. He knew that he couldn’t remain angry with them for long, but he did have an image to uphold.

              “So you used Foundation funds to do this little endeavor, as well as Foundation resources?” Devon grumbled.

              “I am sure that you already have ways created within your cranium to make us pay you back for it.” Bonnie chuckled.

              “Of course, after all, this is still a business, and hardly the place for tom foolery.” Devon stated. “So what are you all doing standing around here, I believe all of you have some form of work or another to be doing.”

              “You don’t have to tell us twice,” Michael quickly stated. “Happy birthday, Devon.”

              “Get to work!” Devon grumbled.

              Michael rushed away. Jennifer kissed Devon on the cheek, and made her quick exit.

              “Happy birthday, Devon,” Bonnie stated, as she went in for the quick peck on Devon’s cheek, then rushed out to make her getaway.

              Devon was left in the garage alone with KITT.

             “Are you mad at me, Devon?” KITT asked.

             “No, KITT, some part of me really wanted my wishes to be defied, and my superstitions to be proven wrong for just a little while,” Devon said, his tone of voice lightening up. He stepped over, and patted KITT’s hood. “Thank you.”

             “You are very welcome, Devon,” KITT stated.

             Devon smiled.

             The team stood outside of the observation window, watching the image of Devon and KITT sharing their little moment.

             “So, when do we tell him that RCIII is lying in a Chicago Hospital after a gang shooting in his old neighborhood?” Jennifer asked.

             “Tomorrow.” Bonnie stated.

             “That should give us enough time to make it look like it happened today, rather than confirm his superstition about bad things always happening on his birthday.” Michael agreed.

             “We got him out of his shell now, we don’t need him to go right back in,” Bonnie added.

             “No short order,” Jennifer noted.

             “For that man, he deserves all that we can give,” Michael stated, and then turned away.

The End.

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