Color Theory

My esteemed brother whose birthday is a mere three days before Christmas made it known that he would like a Dairy Queen ice cream cake to celebrate his illustrious day. So my dad and I trekked out to the only Dairy Queen that was open to purchase said cake.

There were three cakes left, all white with red trim. The clerk said, "Would you like a message on it?" We said, "Yes, how about 'Happy Birthday, Douglas!'?" We're nothing if not creative. "What color would you like the writing in?" At this point my dad said, "Green." But I protested.

My brother has always disliked having his birthday so close to Christmas, feeling like he often got gypped. With comments like, "Douglas, here's your Birthday/Christmas present," I couldn't blame him. So I said that green writing with red trim looked a bit too Christmas-y. I suggested red writing to match the red trim.

At this point the clerk jumped in and said, "We don't have red." I said, "Yes, you do. Look this very cake has red trim." And the clerk said, "Well, the writing icing comes in different colors than the trim. For writing messages we only have primary colors, like green."

I opened my mouth again to debate color theory, but seeing this would go nowhere, my dad stomped on my foot and said, "Green is fine."

Sorry, Douglas. I tried.