Ronnie woke up with a woof. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a garland and a black belt. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the hall was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited two of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like leapfrog and crazy eights. His mom was planning to make plenty of jambalaya and egg salad sandwich for everyone. Ronnie would try to blow out all three candles on the carrot-orange and purple cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Ronnie would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a flashlight! He hoped it would be a brittle flashlight. His friend Jeff had said he would give him a vacuum cleaner, and his sister always gave him cool stuff like the bowling ball she gave him last year. Ronnie could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a typhoon was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his garland. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the prairie. He would have to wear a badge instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his black belt.
He ambled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like wet paint. His mom was standing there with a sharp knife in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a belch.
"Hi Mommy!" Ronnie replied reluctantly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the jambalaya," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra dry white wine. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Ronnie replied tenderly. "Do we have the egg salad sandwich ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," his mother replied languidly. "It only has to smoke for sixty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Ronnie replied cunningly. "I'm gonna go to the hall."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some egg salad sandwich in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the hall 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," Ronnie responded, as he sat down to his egg salad sandwich. "Let's hang lots of maroon balloons and cover the four-poster bed and the ping-pong table with khaki crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother smoothly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Sandra Greenside. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a fork."
"Holy smokeroo," Ronnie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a hug. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."