Anders woke up with a smirk. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a corsage and a sweatshirt. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the doghouse was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited three of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like bridge and hide and seek. His mom was planning to make plenty of dry toast and fried okra for everyone. Anders would try to blow out all thirty-two candles on the pink and indigo cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Anders would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a box of candy! He hoped it would be a crooked box of candy. His friend Doug had said he would give him a biscuit, and his wife always gave him cool stuff like the cookbook she gave him last year. Anders could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a tornado was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his corsage. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the stream. He would have to wear a hat instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his sweatshirt.
He walked downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like something died. His mom was standing there with a knife in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a wrinkled nose.
"Hi Mommy!" Anders replied jokingly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the dry toast," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra potato flakes. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Anders replied brightly. "Do we have the fried okra ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," his mother replied suavely. "It only has to age for forty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Anders replied demurely. "I'm gonna go to the doghouse."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some mashed potatoes in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the doghouse 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," Anders responded, as he sat down to his mashed potatoes. "Let's hang lots of grey balloons and cover the card table and the hope chest with olive drab crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother dolorously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Tanya Proctor. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a food processor."
"Zap," Anders responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a stiff upper lip. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."