Danny entered his third grade classroom and paraded up and down the rows of desks handing out invitations to his birthday party on Saturday. A confident grin stretched across his face while he greeted each kid. They were given black envelopes with their names written in blood red ink. The invitation promised a “Party like no other!” As he made his way around the room he heard lots of giggles at his expense.

Chip Hodge’s voice droned behind him, he was the kid who loved to trip Danny in the cafeteria. Patty Pottswold’s shrilly voice cackled from the front row. It was the same shrill he heard when she barged in on him in the boys room. Then she ran into the hallway and announced to everybody that, “Danny peed all over the bathroom floor.” At the back of the room were the “Three Jimmies,” Jimmy Jones, Jimmy Canter, and Jimmy Johnson. They called themselves the “Noogie Patrol,” and every day after school they lay in wait for Danny to attack him. With all of the invitations delivered, Danny sat down at his desk. He wished, more than anything, that all of these foul kids would come to his party.

Danny was different from the kids in his class. He didn’t like sports or video games. At recess when everybody played kickball, he was more interested in the ant hills that emerged from the cracks in the asphalt. And when he went to fetch a ball that was kicked into the bushes, the other kids ended up having to fetch Danny because he was usually lost in the intricacies of a spider’s web underneath the bush. He liked it when bugs crawled on him, their tiny legs tickled him and heightened his senses. While all of the kids made fun of him, these little creatures liked Danny. There were even times when he felt like they communicated with him, and vice versa.

On the day before his birthday, walking home from school, Danny had an idea. When Danny passed by the alley, the Jimmies were waiting for him. They tackled him to the ground and kicked him. When he was face down on the ground he saw an ant hill right by his face. Danny stared at the mound and called to the ants from his mind. Instantly, they began streaming from their tiny hole and climbed all over the Three Jimmies, who frantically slapped at the ants, completely forgetting about Danny. After the boys ran away, Danny sat up, brushed the dust from his clothes and watched the ants as they marched back into their hill. Danny thought, “I can’t wait for tomorrow!”

On Saturday every one of his classmates showed up. The picnic table was piled high with gifts, Danny never took his eyes off of it. As he walked around the yard, greeting the kids, he could be heard mumbling quietly under his breath.

The time finally arrived to open his presents. At the table, surrounded by his classmates, Danny began opening them. Some of the gifts were ok, but most were not. Teddy Frizzel wrapped up an old tennis ball, and Jenny Mundt wrapped up a Barbie Doll head. They smirked at each other but Danny didn’t care. He quickly opened his gifts and placed them all on the ground. Suddenly the opened gifts began to shudder and slide across the grass toward the other kids. The gifts toppled over and ants, centipedes, and bugs of all sorts crawled out of the boxes. Flies and bees buzzed from the wrappings and spiders plunged down from the trees. Within moments the children were swarmed by insects. Chip Hodge swallowed a mouthful of flies and puked all over his buddies, dowsing them with a stream of fly infused, birthday cake. Jenny Mundt’s face swelled up like a balloon from multiple bee stings. And the Three Jimmies were, once again covered with ants. Jimmy Canter passed out while ants were crawling in and out of his nose. And Danny was extremely happy to see Patty Pottswold running and screaming with a big wet pee spot on her pants.

After everybody left, Danny sat at the picnic table when his mom said, “I’m so sorry about your party. Dad’s going to call an exterminator and have the yard sprayed for bugs tomorrow.” “It’s ok, Mom. Today was exactly what I hoped for. You don’t have to call anybody,” Danny said, “The bugs won’t be back. I can promise you that.”