Wednesday's Words on a Friday

On Wednesdays, Delores, from Under The Porch Light, has a word challenge meme which she calls “Words for Wednesday”.

She puts up a selection of six words which we then use in a short story, or a poem.

I’m hopeless at poetry so I always do a story.

It’s a fun challenge…why not join in?

Delores is still having a few computer problems, so once again, the words come to us via Elephant's Child.

This week's words are:

1. cheer

2. cart

3. panoramic

4. various

5. devilish

6. ?

AND: (or)

1. trickle

2. illustrious

3. sound

4. flavour

5. psychedelic

6. type

we also have "drowning in sleep". I have no idea what to do with that, so I'm just using the words (*~*)

Here is my story:

The party promised to be a blast.
It was my parents forty-seventh anniversary and my older brother Vinnie had the great idea to surprise them with a psychedelic colourama affair reminiscent of the late sixties when they had married. He had somehow found fabric printed with muticoloured swirls and bought enough to cover the windows in the party room, with a couple of metres left over to cover the buffet table.
Our party room was upstairs, running the full length of the house, with a wide balcony giving panoramic views over the valley. Built in the 1800s by our illustrious great grandfather, the house was solid stone, with the party room being added at a later date for the fancy dinner parties great grandma liked to hold. 

I'd spent the morning helping Connie and Vincent cart boxes of streamers, balloons, paper napkins etc up the stairs, while Gary had manned the gas bottle and blown up what seemed like a million balloons. 

We'd taken a break for lunch, then Vincent had called the local supermarket for delivery of soft drinks in every flavour available. 

Most of the budget had been set aside for the drinks; food was being brought by other family members. 

Numerous aunts and uncles were bringing cakes, salads, barbecued meats; the cousins were bringing their appetites and gifts.  

Connie and Vinnie were twins, 43 years old, with seven children between them; I was a late-life surprise baby and had just turned 19. 

I'd heard some of the cousins were bringing friends and Connie was teasing me about 'that Tony' that Becky was bringing along. 

"You know he likes you" she smirked. 

"He's not my type," I said. "Him and his devilish grin, that long hair flopping over his forehead, those bluer than blue eyes...." suddenly I felt too hot and a trickle of sweat made its way down the middle of my back. 

"Hmmmm," said Connie, who'd noticed my sudden flush. Damn her! She noticed everything!

"Who is collecting the champagne?" I asked her. "Uncle Terry is bringing it and Aunt Stella is bringing the anniversary cake, the bakery made an exact copy of their original wedding cake!"
Vincent said, "drinks are on the way, bags of ice too, that should keep all the youngsters happy, they can all throw ice cubes at each other when they get bored."

As the afternoon wore on, decorations were completed, places set at the many tables, the amplifier volume was tested and adjusted, Vinnie wanted Mum and Dad to be able to hear the music over the chatter of people. 

Scattered among the songs of younger people's favourites were songs from the sixties that mum and dad had loved and the song they had danced to at their wedding. 

Gary, 37 years old, was our own personal IT 'whizz kid' and had spent hours putting together a playlist, searching I-Tunes and You Tube for weeks to find the old songs. 

Finally the room was ready; some of the cousins had arrived early and promised to keep watch while we all showered off the sweat and put party clothes on. 

My nephew Tim whistled a warning a few minutes later, "I hear the sound of cars on the driveway! I hope everyone else arrives before Grandma and Grandpa, Mum said they were seeing a double feature then taking a walk around town before coming home."

The side yard was choc-a-block with cars and dozens of people of all ages lined the balcony waiting for the guests of honour. Aunts and Uncles had loaded the tables with the various foods they'd cooked; everything looked so festive.

A cheer went up as the big old buick was sighted turning into the driveway and smaller children lining the yard waved balloons then ran along behind the car as Mum and Dad drove towards their party.