My family asked me to coordinate a surprise birthday dinner. I had one job: keep the guest of honor outside until the cake was hidden. When I arrived, I saw their car circling the block, so I rushed into the restaurant and loudly announced, "They are still parking. Hide the cake and everybody stop looking suspicious." The whole table went silent. The guest of honor had arrived early with someone else and was sitting at the far end of the table, mostly hidden behind a large menu. They slowly lowered it and said, "Should I go back outside?" For reasons nobody can explain, my relatives tried to continue the surprise. We hid the cake, turned off the lights, and shouted when it came out twenty minutes later. The guest of honor performed a very convincing gasp and thanked us for the completely unexpected event. Every family photo shows me in the background looking like I have failed an exam.