Chapter 20: Mr Score goes up in the world

In 20 Twittington Street, Mr Score was busy having his breakfast.
Twenty small items as usual, of course. The meal comprised:

1 x small glass of grapefruit juice
2 x cups of tea
1 portion of scrambled eggs
on
2 x pieces of toast
coated with
1 x knife-full of low-fat margarine
2 x sprinklings of salt
2 x sprinklings of pepper
1 x dollop of HP sauce
1 x dollop of ketchup
1 x rasher of bacon
1 x pork sausage
2 x grilled tomatoes
2 x grilled mushrooms
with
1 x sprinkling of herbs on top

He always enjoyed his twenty items, and polished them off taking
exactly twenty minutes. He always found twenty items exactly the right
number, and twenty minutes exactly the right amount of time to eat it
in. As he finished his last mouthful he heard the post thud onto the
mat. He got up to check. Phew! There were exactly twenty items. He
hated it when the post office got it wrong. He went on to have a fully
hunky-dory, 20-20 day. When he went to bed he was at peace with the
world and slept soundly, having said his prayers to the God of Twenty
Dreams.

The following morning he got up at 8.20am as usual and went down to
breakfast. Oh, he was really hungry that morning; it must have been all
that dreaming. He gobbled up his breakfast so fast, which made him
extra-thirsty. He reached out and poured, then gulped down a cup of tea
- his third. Without thinking he had just had twenty-one items. That
was unheard of. His heart started to pound in his chest as he realised
what he'd done and the risk he was taking. He began to sweat profusely
and his vision blurred. He was completely out of his comfort zone and
he didn't know what to do.

"Thud". So the post had come - 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20
items. Phew! No need to panic. Things were normal after all. Mr Score
started to walk back to his seat at the kitchen table.

"Plop". A lighter sound came from behind him. He turned around to see
another letter on the mat - a bright red envelope - number 21. Oh then
he really started to worry. He paced up and down and up and down. It
took him a full twenty minutes to get up the courage to shuffle over to
the envelope in his slippers. He picked it up slowly and opened it
tentatively?.. It was an invite to a party - YIPPEE! Mr Score was never
invited to parties. Sometimes he was invited to multiple choice tests,
but never to parties.
The invite read:

Dear Mr Score
You are cordially invited to
a "21" party in celebration
of the 21st birthday of
Twinkletoes Tinsel
at 20.21 on Saturday 21st May,
21 Casino Drive

In smaller letters at the bottom:

strictly only over-21's allowed. RSVP

Oh he was so excited, but so shocked! How could he, Mr Score, possibly
go to a 21 party? It was so new, so different, he hadn't a clue where
to begin. He tried twenty times to draft a reply to the invitation.
Each time he was dissatisfied and scrumpled up his attempt.
Astonishingly he succeeded on his 21st try. He posted off the 21st
sheet of paper, leaving the previous twenty scrumpled up balls in his
waste-paper basket. He'd dared to accept. Now the question was, did he
dare to go?

Saturday came and Mr Score made sure he spent a full twenty-one minutes
getting ready. Oh it was a struggle that last minute, it seemed to drag
on forever for him. But then again, he did have an extra silk spotted
handkerchief to display in his top pocket, which took at least
twenty-one seconds to arrange.

He boldly took the twenty-one steps to 21 Casino Drive, took a deep
breath and rang the bell. The pretty twenty-one year old Twinkletoes
came to greet him at the door. He was bowled over. She was everything
he had imagined in his wildest dreams, and more. She just seemed to
have that little bit extra that all the other girls he knew were
lacking. She also looked approvingly at him.

"My, don't you look complete!" she said, running her fingers over his
silk handkerchief. He blushed like a twenty-year old as she led him
inside to the party.
They danced, they drank, they giggled. Then they joined the other
guests at cards - 21 of course! Mr Score was lucky for a while, but
Twinkletoes kept winning over all the other guests.

At the end of the evening, he said goodnight, and quite overcome with
all the excitement he kissed her a full twenty-one times on the lips.
He especially enjoyed the last one. It was so adventurous, so free. So
like nothing he had ever experienced.

"Can I see you again, Mr Score?" she asked, giving him her sweetest
smile.
Flustered, he replied, "oh, er, oh, er, I'm really not sure about that
my dear Twinkly", looking down at his shoes. "I've had a thoroughly
nice time and all that, but it's just been such an extraordinary day. I
suddenly feel completely exhausted and a bit out of sorts".

As Mr Score walked the twenty-one steps back home he realised he just
couldn't get together with a girl like that. He knew in his heart she'd
always have one up on him. He deliberately made his last stride home an
extra huge one, arriving home at the end of step twenty. He felt a
weight lift off his shoulders, home at last. As he undressed and hung
up his clothes, he laid down the silk handkerchief on his desk, smiled
and wrote a reminder note to himself. He would post the handkerchief to
Twinkletoes tomorrow as a thank you for the party and something to
remember him by.

The End