Claire Parker on stood on the decking she was so proud of and surveyed the garden before her, it was all working so perfectly and she could afford to take a moment off her hostess duties. The picnic-buffet was laid out, on the cafe tablets that had cost an arm and a leg to rent, in the centre of the garden and the guests were milling around them. The music, recorded and not live (some corners had to be cut for cost), drifted across the garden, adding a perfect background. The weather, the most uncontrollable element there, had come through for her as well, it was bright and warm sunshine, but not so hot as to be oppressive. She was glad she decided to have it in the garden, not trapped away inside a building, it was such a perfect setting; and she was glad that she put her foot down and had a picnic-buffet and not an awful barbeque because everyone was having one of them these days.

All her hard work had paid off and this party would certainly be remembered as a success, that’s all she wanted. Your only child is only sixteen once and you have to celebrate that, she reasoned and therefore she had been planning Robbie’s sixteenth for months now. Robbie had repeatedly protested that he didn’t want a party but she equally repeatedly dismissed him, this was a chance for her to shine with a good social party. It had been so long since she’d had the chance to host a big social function. Anthony, her architect husband, always put his foot down about having “just a party”, for him there always had to be a reason for one, whether it was an anniversary, promotion or birthday. Therefore this was her first chance to shine in such a long time.

She’s carefully chosen the guests, family members and the right members from her church and Anthony’s work colleagues and those from her own social circle, to balance each other and with the careful hope there would be no friction amongst any of them. At the last moment Anthony had announced that he had to work and won’t be at the party and no matter how much she protested he refused to change his plans. Also, at the last moment Robbie had announced who he wanted invited; unfortunately this she had no control over. He only wanted a handful of his friends to come along, most of them his own age and as quiet and arty as him, but one of them was that Garth.