Ben woke up with a guffaw. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a poodle skirt and a pair of glasses. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the porch was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited nine of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like hopscotch and billiards. His dad was planning to make plenty of chicken pot pie and chicken gumbo for everyone. Ben would try to blow out all fourteen candles on the orange and amber cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Ben would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a paper airplane! He hoped it would be a prickly paper airplane. His friend Minnie had said she would give him a calling card, and his mommy always gave him cool stuff like the can of beer she gave him last year. Ben could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a pall of doom was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his poodle skirt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the grassland. He would have to wear a toga instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his pair of glasses.
He reeled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Pine-Sol. His dad was standing there with a piece of cheesecloth in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a flush.
"Hi Daddy!" Ben replied shyly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the chicken pot pie," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra lemon juice. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Ben replied hysterically. "Do we have the chicken gumbo ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," his father replied grimly. "It only has to heat for fifty-four minutes."
"Okay," Ben replied kindly. "I'm gonna go to the porch."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some scrambled eggs in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the porch first?" he begged.
"It looks just like it always does," his father replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Ben responded, as he sat down to his scrambled eggs. "Let's hang lots of pink balloons and cover the settee and the crib with sea green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father ruefully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Susie Yoshida. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a meat thermometer."
"Knock me over with a feather," Ben responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with an evil eye. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."