He had always been invited to Anna's birthdays before. Of course he had. He was her father wasn't he? The one thing they had agreed on was that though Melanie had full custody, Anna should not be involved in the hard feelings of the divorce and it had always worked out, or so he thought.
Now things were changing. His ex-wife Melanie had a new job, a definite step up the ladder. A brand new S.U.V. She was growing into a more affluent world and he had no part in it.
Perhaps it was an oversight. He decided to show up on Anna's birthday. The problem was a present. He had very little money. Last birthday he had bought some little drug store gift - some glittery hair decorations. Anna loved them but Melanie didn't. Anna loved his old pick-up with the racks which he used on his construction jobs. Melanie didn't.
He went to a thrift store and emptied the bin full of battered soft toys. Teddy bears, toy dogs and skunks. A huge, decrepit Barney. A forlorn cabbage patch doll that might have been a collector's item. He paid ten dollars for the lot. Then he got to work. He wired the stuffed toys to every available place on his truck. Barney and the cabbage patch girl reigned supreme on the cab roof. Multicolored Christmas tree lights sparkled around them.
It was a grey afternoon when he pulled up at Anna's house. The party was in progress. Little girls boiled about in the warm bright house. No room to park in the driveway. He double parked outside the house and waited. A girl stood at the window and pointed. Melanie peered out, a man stood behind her. She came out of the house and stared at his truck. Anna followed her, a confused expression on her face.
``Get out!'' Melanie said. He looked at her in bewilderment.
``I came for her party - happy birthday little girl. Want a ride with dad?''
Anna looked up at her mother. ``Can I? Can I?''
``Get out! Anna get into the house. Get out! I've had all I can tolerate! Get a life!''
He drove away with Barney glittering on his roof. A light rain was falling.
He never took the toys off his truck. At first people smiled and thought it was cute but as time and weather took toll and the lights failed, the whole thing took on a menacing air. At the end of a year a green slime had formed on Barney and cabbage patch and all the other teddy bears and skunks and kangaroos, now barely recognizable.
On Anna's birthday he was there in his bedraggled truck, outside the new house in the prosperous suburb where Melanie now lived with her new husband. There were no cars in the driveway. Anna was at Disney World for a week.
He had not been told.