Jude woke up with a chuckle. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a feather boa and a bridal gown. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the basement was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-seven of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like leapfrog and jacks. His mom was planning to make plenty of waffles and apple pie for everyone. Jude would try to blow out all six candles on the forest green and rose cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Jude would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a baseball! He hoped it would be a papery baseball. His friend Michael had said he would give him a fire hose, and his dad always gave him cool stuff like the bicycle she gave him last year. Jude could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a sandstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his feather boa. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the cliff. He would have to wear a wedding dress instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his bridal gown.
He skidded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a swimming pool. His mom was standing there with an oven mitt in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a shiver.
"Hi Mommy!" Jude replied blissfully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the waffles," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra pecan pieces. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Jude replied hopelessly. "Do we have the apple pie ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," his mother replied numbly. "It only has to slow cook for seventy-seven minutes."
"Okay," Jude replied dubiously. "I'm gonna go to the basement."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some fried eggs in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the basement first?" he begged.
"It looks just like it always does," his mother replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Jude responded, as he sat down to his fried eggs. "Let's hang lots of jet black balloons and cover the wooden crate and the file cabinet with beige crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother slowly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Sharice Sewell. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a paring knife."
"Very well done," Jude responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a smack. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."