Boy Blows Candles on B-Day Cake and Suddenly Falls to the Floor Unconscious – Story of the Day

Piper plans the perfect birthday for her four-year-old. But he collapses just after blowing his birthday candles. At the hospital, the Doctor says that there’s poison in her son’s system. What poison and how did it get there?

Piper woke up that morning, almost buzzing with excitement. Her little boy was turning four, and she and Brian were finally going to throw the little guy the birthday party of his dreams. Piper looked at Brian, still sound asleep.

Daniel had gotten his Dad's exact hair coloring, long eyelashes, and the upward curve of his lips, making them both look as though they were always smiling, even in a deep sleep.

She got out of bed, trying not to wake Brian. She wanted to get enough preparation done before Brian and Daniel woke up. Balloons were to be blown, decorations were to be put up, and food was to be prepped. It was going to be a long day.

Piper knew that as she stood in the shower, taking in the only moment of silence that she was likely to get that day. But she couldn't wait. She simply couldn't wait to celebrate Daniel. The party theme was Jungle Safari because Daniel was obsessed with animals – to Piper's dismay, even with the creepy crawlies.

His grandmother was convinced that he would grow up to become a vet one day.

Piper let her hair air dry and put the kettle on while she began to blow up some balloons. This was a big deal, Daniel's birthday.

The past two years have been extremely difficult for their family. First, Brian lost his job. Advertising was becoming almost redundant due to the rise of artificial intelligence. Companies were letting real people go due to AI's convenience and pocket-friendly versions.

She remembered how shattered Brian had been when he walked through the front door and told her what had happened. Yes, they had savings, but how long would any of it last? Especially in the current economy. Piper had consoled and given him space while he tried to figure things out.

But the truth was, Piper was also uneasy about what would come next. She had put her teaching on hold when Daniel was born, so she wasn't working either. After a few months of trying to make it work, they gave up their home and moved in with her parents – Caroline and James, until they were stable enough to figure out the next steps.

On one hand, being home gave Piper a sense of relief – her Mom was her favorite person, and Piper knew that being around her mom would give her a sense of peace. But then, on the other hand, Piper was stressed that Brian would want to control things – to be the 'man of the house' because all he knew was to provide for his family.

Thankfully, she did not have to worry. Brian and her Dad had quickly fallen into a routine of their own, which included James helping Brian find new job opportunities he was suited for.

She remembered feeling more stressed out in those months than ever before.

But then, after an entire summer of doing random jobs wherever possible, Brian got an interview at a marketing agency, and things began to look up quickly. The boss valued his opinion and his ability to interact with people on a human level, one that artificial intelligence would never be able to touch.

They continued to live with her parents for a few months after that, slowly beginning to look for houses again. Piper was adamant that they take it easy and be sure about every decision they made. She hated the thought of uprooting Daniel when he had just readjusted to living with his parents and grandparents – he loved the love he got from everyone.

And then, finally, they drove by this house one morning, saw the 'For Sale' sign sticking out of the fresh grass on the front, and that was it. Their new start.

Since they had begun to feel safe in their finances, Piper had told Brian that she would spare no expense to make their son feel loved and appreciated for Daniel's birthday.

"It's not like he doesn't feel loved already," Brian told her when she brought up the idea of a party.

"Of course not. We have the means to spoil him for a day, and I think we owe it to him and ourselves. Let's make new memories together as a family," she said.

"New memories in a new house," he agreed and kissed her forehead, indicating he was on board.

Daniel turned in his bed and yawned. His mom hadn't fully shut out the light with the curtains, and the sun was dancing across his face. He pulled the covers over his head, closing out the light and the music he could hear from the kitchen. Daniel knew it meant that his mom was awake.

He wondered what she was doing and whether she would make pancakes for breakfast – if she did, he hoped there would be no blueberries in them. Daniel hated blueberries.

"Happy Birthday, my boy!" he heard his Dad say a moment before pulling the covers off him.

"Oh, Happy Birthday, darling!" his Mom said from the doorway. She was holding a cupcake with a candle.

"You get the cupcake now and the big cake later," she said as she sat on the bed.

"Come on, blow out the candle, buddy. Make a wish!" his Dad said.

Daniel sat up and inhaled deeply, ready to blow out his birthday candle. He blew so hard that the candle fell off the cupcake and onto his Mom's lap.

"Oh dear," she said, laughing and reaching out to hug him.

"Take a bite," mom said.

"But I haven't brushed my teeth yet," he said thoughtfully.

"It's okay," Dad said. "You can brush your teeth after."

Piper was in the kitchen putting the food in the oven while Brian blew up the rest of the balloons. Their guests would be arriving soon, and Piper wanted everything ready before they came. She could hardly wait for Daniel to see the cake, let alone the pile of presents that would grow with each person entering the house.

"Where is he?" she asked Brian.

"He's outside. Said he wanted to play in the playhouse by himself before everyone arrived. I know he's excited, but you know Daniel, he gets a little nervous when there's a lot of people around."

"I know. Our Daniel is a very quiet boy by nature. But he'll come around when the other kids get here. Do you think my Dad was serious about getting a kitten for Daniel?" she asked.

"I have no clue. Your Dad is as unpredictable as the weather at this time of the year. But if I'm honest with you, I don't think I'd mind. There are still a few mice running around. I've seen them outside in the evenings."

"Well, hopefully, they're just outside. It's one thing to find a mouse outside. It's another to find it running between everyone's feet during a party," Piper said.

They had moved to the house a few months ago, and as lovely and spacious as the place was, it had been unlived in for a while before the sale. The landlord said he knew the previous tenants were leaving on holiday but hadn't expected them to disappear altogether with all their belongings.

So, although they had cleaned the house from floor to roof several times, a few mice still survived all the rat traps and poisonous pellets Brian put around the house.

Piper had no idea where they went during the day because she hadn't come across them in weeks – other than sometimes finding their droppings around the house and hearing their feet scurrying on the roof rafters.

Meanwhile, Daniel sat outside in his playhouse with his grape juice box and a chocolate chip cookie his Mom had given him. He was excited about his birthday, but he wanted to play by himself for a while. Daniel liked being around other people, but he was happiest when alone.

He liked to spend time with animals more than other children his age. He liked to draw animals and color them in, too.

He had almost finished the cookie when Jack and Jill emerged from behind the big blue toy box. He didn't know if the mice were girls or boys, but he named them Jack and Jill after the nursery rhyme his Mom sang at bedtime.

The little boy gave Jack a crumb of the cookie and then Jill, alternating until it was finished. Daniel picked Jack up and kissed him on his head while Jill jumped onto his leg.

The mice were so little that Daniel thought they were his friends, so he always came into the playhouse to share his snacks. The day before he shared the yogurt his Mom had given him, he wondered what snack he would share with them tomorrow.

When Jill kept sniffing into his hands, and Jack was sniffing at the last cookie crumb on the table, Daniel knew that his friends were still hungry.

"Okay, I'll get more. I know where Daddy keeps the treats," he told them as he picked up his juice box and ran to the house.

He opened the door that led to the kitchen and could hear his parents laughing from the dining room. Daniel wanted to peep in and see what his party looked like - he remembered his Dad said that the party was animal-themed. But he didn't want Mom or Dad to call him inside yet.

Daniel went through the house to the door leading to the garage, and he knew that he saw the bright yellow box of treats on the bottom, underneath the shelf where his Dad kept the tools.

He picked up the box and ran back through the house quickly. He also didn't want his mom to see that he had the box of treats under his arm. He knew his mom would say they should only have a few because they needed to eat dinner first, but he didn't know what his friends would have for dinner.

When he returned to the playhouse, Daniel saw the mice sitting on his little chair and waiting for him.

"Here you go," he said, tipping the box of treats onto the table. A handful of pellets fell over the table, and a few fell onto the floor.

"Now you'll have lots of treats while I'm at my party," he told them. He picked the mice up from the chair and put them at the center of the table, surrounded by the pellets. The mice pawed at them and then began hungrily nibbling away at the pellets.

Daniel watched how their little hands picked up a single pellet at a time.

"Do you think I can try one?" he asked them. "We can share," he said.

The mice squeaked their reply and continued to nibble, and Daniel took that as permission.

He reached onto the table, picked up two pellets, and put them into his mouth.

"Oh! That's yucky!" he exclaimed as he wiped his mouth, thinking about the empty juice box he threw away when he got the treats. The treats were gross, and his tongue felt thick and horrible. He needed something to take the awful taste away.

"Daniel, it's party time!" he heard his Mom call from the backdoor.

"Okay, Jack and Jill. I'll see you after my party."

Piper helped Daniel wash his face and brush his hair. Most of the guests had arrived and were getting themselves comfortable around the house. She wanted to get Daniel ready and changed into his new safari tour guide khakis just before they began the formalities. As she buttoned his shirt up, she saw that he was breaking out in a sweat, his hands were getting clammy, and the back of his neck was red and dripped.

"Are you alright, sweetheart?" she asked him.

"I'm hot," he said softly. "And very thirsty."

"Okay, let's get you to the kitchen for a drink, and then it's time to sing and open presents!"

As they were on their way to the kitchen, Piper's mother reached out and grabbed Daniel, picking him up and wrapping her arms around the boy.

"Happy Birthday, pet," she said, kissing his forehead. "Oh, Piper, is he okay? He feels hot."

"He did say that he's hot and thirsty. I think it's the material that he's wearing. It is very thick. But I'll change him into something lighter after we take photos. Is that okay, sweetheart?" she asked Daniel as she took him from his grandmother.

The little boy nodded.

"I'll get him some water," her mother said.

Daniel started to feel very ill. All his family and friends were half in the living room and half in the dining room. His parents had turned the house into a safari, and stuffed animals and balloons were everywhere. And he could hear animal sounds from the speaker next to the TV.

He saw two of his cousins playing with toy cars under the table, and one was poking at the coffee table, which was covered in birthday presents. Birthday presents for him, Daniel smiled. He wondered what they were and couldn't wait to dig into the pile and open them up.

"Come stand here, buddy," his Dad said as he picked him up and stood him on the bench at the dining table. "Look at the cake!"

Daniel saw that the cake was big and had animals on it – and there were more of the cupcakes that his mom had given him that morning. He wanted to take a big bite into the one closest to him. He wasn't hungry, but he wanted to get the horrible taste out of his mouth.

He could not understand how Jack and Jill enjoyed their treats. They were too yucky for him.

Suddenly, everything started to feel very blurry. Daniel blinked a few times, just like his mom had told him to do after he sneezed. He reached out to hold onto the table to steady himself.

Then, his mom stood beside him with another glass of water.

"Drink up, love. Mommy will take you out of those clothes soon," she said.

Daniel sipped on the water. He was so happy his mom was there because he leaned on her for support. His head was sore, and his legs felt weak and wobbly. He knew he wasn't okay. He knew he was getting sick.

His mom put her hand around his waist, and everyone came forward, standing around the table as his Aad lit the birthday candles with a very long matchstick.

"Four candles for my four-year-old," his Dad said as he stepped back.

"Okay, everyone! Let's sing for the birthday boy!" his mom exclaimed, and she started singing.

Daniel felt okay when his mom held him, but he felt shaky again when she took her arm out from around him and began clapping to the song.

"Mom," he whispered. "I don't feel nice."

But his Mom didn't hear him, and everyone was clapping, singing, and stamping.

When the song ended, and his Mom told him to blow out the candles, Daniel did just as he had done that morning. He inhaled deeply, and just as he blew out the candles, everything went dark, and Daniel fell off the bench.

Piper watched her son fall in slow motion. At first, everything was too slow, and then it was too fast. She tried to reach out and catch him, or at least prevent him from hitting his head on the table. But she was too late. One moment, her son was on the bench next to her, and the next moment, he was sprawled across the wooden floor.

"Watch his neck!" the neighbor shouted. She was a nurse and had seen a few of Daniel's minor injuries from adventures in the garden over the past few weeks.

Brian moved the bench aside quickly, and Piper knelt next to Daniel. He was burning up at a ridiculously fast rate. She undid the buttons on his shirt, trying to get him out of the clothes as if that would help. She fanned him with a napkin that she pulled off the table. Her hands shook.

"I've called for an ambulance, love. They said that they'll be here soon," she could hear Brian saying from above.

"Mom!" Daniel called, looking for her, just before he threw up and fell asleep again. Soon, the ambulance arrived.

Piper watched the paramedics remove the stretcher that Daniel was on. She wanted to help, but she didn't know what to do. Her arms hung limp at their sides, unable to move. They wheeled him into the emergency room, where a new set of doctors and nurses appeared. She watched one nurse give Daniel oxygen.

She watched another check his vitals.

"Draw some blood now. We need to test for these things…" she heard the Doctor say.

Piper's head was getting fuzzy. She was neither here nor there. She felt unsteady on her feet, and she needed to sit.

"Here," Brian said, steering her to a chair away from Daniel's bed.

"I can't. I want to be there by Daniel. In case he wakes up," she said.

"When he wakes up, a nurse will call us," he said. "Let's just sit here and give them some space. That will be more valuable than us just getting in the way."

Brian put his hand on her knee, which had begun to shake uncontrollably.

"I'm scared," she whispered.

"The cause was a poison of some sort," the doctor told Piper and Brian. "We'll know when the comprehensive toxicology report returns, but do you know what it could have been? Do you have any idea at all?"

Piper shook her head. She was a strong woman who had seen many things before, but nothing could remove the scene of Daniel falling from her mind. It was seared into her eyelids.

"He has been eating a lot of sugar today," Brian said. "It's his birthday, and we just wanted to go all out. But other than that, I don't recall him eating anything he shouldn't have been. Piper, did you see him eat anything else?"

Piper shook her head again. She couldn't understand why Brian was asking her questions. Her hands had begun to shake uncontrollably, too. She needed this whole nightmare to be over. She needed to sit at home on the living room carpet, watching Daniel rip into the pile of birthday presents, eating cold leftovers while Brian took photos of everything.

She needed to celebrate her son, not sit in the hospital's emergency room waiting for answers and for her son's eyes to open.

An hour later, the doctor had set Daniel up in his room on the pediatric floor. Piper was grateful for the quiet that came with being in the ward rather than the emergency room. This was safer. None of them had to see all the blood from accidents or the old lady who looked like she had dislocated her shoulder.

Well, it was almost quiet. The sounds from the machines surrounding Daniel were humming and beeping harmoniously as the minutes ticked away.

When the doctor returned with the report a few hours later, he shocked them all.

"Rat poison, that's what the report says," he said.

Piper needed clarification. How would Daniel have gotten hold of rat poison?

"A child can be in a coma for anywhere from a few hours to a few months," the Doctor said. "I'm sorry, but it is truly that unpredictable. He is responding to medication and stable, so that's already a great sign."

Piper nodded. She knew this. Of course, she knew the unpredictability of the entire situation. She knew her child was sick and needed treatment, but she needed answers.

"Is it a great sign?" Brian asked. "Look at him."

"It's a change, however small, it's still a change. His vitals look better than when he was brought in," the doctor said. "I'll leave you now, but I'll be back to check on him in a few hours."

Piper sat with her head in her hands. She needed to move. She needed to do something. She couldn't just sit there and wait until Daniel woke up. Dread had set in. She already feared the worst, something she knew she couldn't afford to do.

"Brian," she said. "I'm going back to the house for a little while. I'm just going to make sure that everyone has eaten and left, and I'll lock up and be right back."

"Do you want me to do that?" Brian asked.

"No, thank you. I need to. I can't sit still and keep looking at him. I'll explode. Don't leave his side. I'll be back soon."

Piper grabbed the car keys and ran out of the room and down the hallway.

When Piper got home, she found all the guests had already left. Her parents were in the kitchen, packing all the food into containers. The cake remained untouched.

"Oh, honey, how is he?" her mother asked when she saw Piper walking into the kitchen.

"He's in a coma," she said. Now, in front of her parents, she was ready to break down and let her fear consume her. But she needed to be strong. "The doctor said that it was rat poison. He ate poison."

"Where on earth could he have gotten that from?" her father asked.

"I don't know, Dad," Piper said. "Look, I just came home to make sure that everyone had gone, and I wanted to lock up. Go to the hospital now. He's in the first ward on level 3. I'll be behind you soon. I want to change into something more comfortable, and then I'll be off."

"Do you want me to wait with you?" her mother asked. Caroline's eyes were filled with sympathy and fear. It was a combination almost powerful enough to tear through Piper, letting her fall to the kitchen floor and comprehend what had happened to her boy.

Piper shook her head.

"Okay, we'll meet you there."

After her parents left, Piper went into the garage. If anything, that was the only place she imagined the rat poison would be. The first time they found droppings, Piper had told Brian that they needed to call an exterminator to have a professional come in and look at the extent of the problem. If there was one mouse, there were bound to be many more. But Brian refused.

"Just because I have a job now doesn't mean we should spend unnecessarily. I will buy the pellets and place them around the house myself. I can do it, and it will be a fraction of the cost of one of those exterminators," he told her.

Piper wanted to argue; she wanted to say that they had to ensure the house was safe for Daniel. That these rodents carried germs and diseases that could be harmful to him. But she knew, from the look that he had given her, that when it came to money, once Brian had spoken, that was it.

Piper rolled her sleeves up, switched on the light, and searched each shelf in the garage, but she could not find a box of the poison. She knew that she was looking for a yellow box. She had unpacked it from their grocery shopping often enough to know what it looked like.

Piper looked through the cupboards in case Brian had put it somewhere for Daniel not to get into. Still nothing.

She checked the trashcan beside the door and found a wrapper smelling like the pellets Brian put around for their mice problem. Did Daniel get into that? It was right there, so easy for him to pick up. But he wouldn't spend his time going through the trash, though he knew not to do that.

And why would Brian leave it lying around for him to get to?

Piper took the wrapper and left it on the kitchen counter before going to her bedroom to change her clothes. She wanted to be comfortable for the long stay at the hospital. She didn't know how long they would be there. She thought about packing an overnight bag for her and Brian, but it felt like a bad omen to prepare for the worst.

She walked past Daniel's room, stopping at the doorway. The bed was undone from the morning. She and Brian had gotten busy with party preparations and left everything to sort out later in the day. Piper went in and made the bed.

She set all Daniel's stuffed animals at the foot of his bed – he always said they protected him at night when they sat there. She put his throw blanket across the bed, and finally, Piper put his favorite pajamas on the bed. It was ready and waiting for him to come home, too.

Before leaving, Piper put the wrapper into her bag, ready to show Brian what he had caused. And even if it wasn't directly his fault, Brian should have left it to the exterminator.

When Piper got to the hospital, she found her parents sitting on either side of Daniel. Her father held a rosary in his hands. It was a welcome sight. Her father carried his rosary in his pocket for as long as she could remember. She felt a sense of peace, watching the scene – her mother on one side with her palm on Daniel's forehead and her father with his hands clasped around the rosary, forehead bent.

Piper signaled to Brian she needed to talk to him.

Brian followed her outside the room.

"This is your fault," she hissed at him. Piper pulled the wrapper from her bag and shoved it into his hands. This is your fault."

Brian opened his mouth to speak, but Piper heard her name from inside. Her mother was calling.

"He's waking up," her mother said.

Daniel was moving around slowly, his eyelids fluttering, fighting against the sleep that had a strong hold over him. He had turned onto his side.

Brian had called the doctor while Piper ran in.

"Okay, this is a great sign!" the doctor said. "I'm going to do a neuro consultation, and then I think the best thing to do will be to sedate him for a little longer, just for the treatment to work while Daniel's body rests. But we need to discover where the poison came from."

Daniel was awake and sleeping on his side when the doctor walked in and told his parents about the poison. His arm hurt from where the IV was inserted, and his head felt fuzzy and sore.

"I fed my friends," he told them quietly. His voice was hoarse, and his throat was dry.

At first, nobody said anything. They were all more stunned that Daniel was awake and coherent. They were waiting for this, but now that the moment was here, they didn't dare to breathe deeply and release that hope.

Piper moved from where she was sitting to the foot of Daniel's bed. She wanted to touch him, to feel that he was there and that he was alive and well.

"Friends? Who did you feed, buddy?" his Dad asked.

"Jack and Jill, the mice in the playhouse," he said.

"There's mice in the playhouse?" Caroline squealed.

"And what did you feed them, honey?" his mom asked, running her hands up and down his legs.

"The box of treats from the garage. The yellow box dad has for them."

Brian hit his forehead.

"Of course," he said.

"What?" the doctor and Piper asked at the same time. Piper saw that Brian still had the wrapper in his hands, unconsciously moving it from one to the other. She knew that he needed to keep his hands busy. They were both like that – in the face of adversity, they would remain strong, but only if they were not idle.

Brian looked her in the eye when he spoke.

"A few weeks ago, when he saw me putting out the poisonous rat pellets around the house, he asked what they were. You know how much he loves animals, and I didn't want to say they were to kill them! And you, Piper, had even forbidden the word in the house," Brian said.

Brian sighed deeply. Piper knew that he felt responsible for the whole thing.

Good, she thought. He needs to be responsible. I told him it wasn't safe to have dangerous things lying around the house, which was easy for Daniel to get into.

"Daniel, did you eat them?" the Doctor asked him.

"I tasted one or two of them, but they were very yucky," he said.

"Look, my boy," the Doctor said to him. "You must never do that again! That's what made you sick. You were lucky because your parents brought you in quickly, but you can never do that again."

Piper watched her boy's features turn to horror as he nodded at the doctor. She was so angry with Brian. She appreciated that he was sensitive and didn't say that the pellets were to kill the animals, but looking at Daniel, she knew that this was all Brian's fault.

Her boy looked smaller than usual, hidden by the stark hospital sheets and the medical equipment surrounding him. It wasn't fair. Piper wanted him to be that curious little boy for longer, to share his food with the animals he met. She didn't even know that mice were in the playhouse, but it made sense now – they must have gone somewhere, especially if they weren't in the house itself.

"Now, you need to rest," the doctor said. "I will give you something in your bag to help you sleep, okay? It's just for a little while so that your body can rest and the medicine can work. You'll be awake in a few hours, and I think we can all celebrate your birthday then."

Daniel nodded as the doctor administrated the drug into his IV.

Piper watched as Daniel fell into a deep sleep again. She felt calmer this time because this sleep was due to the medication. It was due to sedation, not a coma. She knew that the medication was working. The doctor had reassured them before leaving the room.

He said that Daniel was young and he would bounce back quickly. And that it helped that the amount of poison was minute. He was going to be okay.

After a few hours, Caroline had sent Brian and James back to the house. She told Piper they needed to get out to do something with all their pent-up energy. Her mother hated pacing, and that's exactly what they had been doing.

So, her mother told them to go home, bring back food because they were in for a long wait, and bring some decorations back. Bring the streamers and balloons, and even the birthday cake. She said it was important that Daniel woke up to see things looking bright and joyful.

When they had left, Piper sighed deeply. She wanted time away from Brian. She was tired of looking at him and feeling conflicted. She wanted to blame him.

But she felt responsible, too. She did ban the word 'kill' when it came to Daniel and animals. If she hadn't, and they would've called the pellets poison rather than 'treats,' none of this would have happened.

Piper confessed all of her feelings to her mother. Caroline held her hand and smiled at her daughter.

"The first thing we want to do when our children are hurting is to put the blame on someone else," her mother said.

"I'm not trying to blame him. It's just that it wouldn't have happened if he listened to me," Piper said.

"I agree. I think getting rid of the mouse problem should have been left to the professionals, but with everything that Brian had to deal with, can you blame him for wanting control?"

"No, and that's why I didn't argue it."

"So, you've got to understand that these things happen, Piper. This entire thing happened because your son wanted to give his friends treats. However, misguided by the set of circumstances, all Daniel wanted to do was share. And that's only something that could have come from you and Brian. You molded this little boy to share. Nobody is at fault for that."

Piper nodded.

When Daniel woke up, his room was dim, but he could see his mom and dad putting birthday balloons and streamers around the room.

He knew he was in the hospital, but the room looked friendlier than before when he was awake earlier. He saw that his dad had his arm around his mom, helping her steady the streamer's end while she tied it up. His grandfather was taking containers of food out of a carrier bag. Daniel could smell the roast chicken from his bed.

He wondered if his birthday presents were waiting for him at home. He didn't mind sharing them with his friends and cousins, but it was nice to know that at least one or two were his.

His grandmother was setting the birthday cake up on a stand. It looked bigger than Daniel remembered it from his party. But he knew that his eyes started hurting then, too. Daniel sighed slightly, remembering the shaky feeling in his legs from earlier.

His grandmother looked up when she heard the sigh.

"Oh, sweet boy, how are you feeling?" she asked.

"I'm okay, grandma. But I am a little tired. Can I have a piece of cake?" he asked.

Before Daniel was discharged, Brian told Piper to call an exterminator in. He said he would rather take care of it while Daniel was in the hospital because he didn't know how attached Brian was to his friends, Jack and Jill.

"We can always tell him they found a new home or something," Brian said.

Piper didn't have any objections. She just wanted the mice gone so they wouldn't longer have the rat poison in the house.

When Daniel was discharged and ready to go home, he was sad that he wouldn't see his friends in the playhouse anymore. His mom had told him they had moved when he was in the hospital, and maybe they missed him too much while he was away.

But his mom also told him not to worry about them and that they would be fine and happy wherever they were.

His dad told him that a surprise was also waiting for him at home. His grandfather had gotten him a kitten of his own.

"If the kitten is a boy, we can name him Jack. And if it's a girl, we can name her Jill," Daniel told his mom on the way home.

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