Calvin woke up with an evil eye. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a set of camo fatigues and a blanket. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the closet was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eighteen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like jacks and jacks. His mom was planning to make plenty of crumb cake and dry toast for everyone. Calvin would try to blow out all nine candles on the pea green and golden cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Calvin would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a baseball! He hoped it would be a frilly baseball. His friend Marvin had said he would give him a handkerchief, and his wife always gave him cool stuff like the sack she gave him last year. Calvin could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that an ice storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his set of camo fatigues. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the grassy knoll. He would have to wear a suit of armor instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his blanket.
He padded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a pot of stew. His mom was standing there with a potato peeler in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a death glare.
"Hi Mommy!" Calvin replied roughly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the crumb cake," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra parsley. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Calvin replied intensely. "Do we have the dry toast ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," his mother replied positively. "It only has to age for one minute."
"Okay," Calvin replied properly. "I'm gonna go to the closet."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some chicken gumbo in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the closet 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," Calvin responded, as he sat down to his chicken gumbo. "Let's hang lots of pea green balloons and cover the armoire and the hammock with sparkly crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother roughly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Nicki Weber. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a pair of tongs."
"Unreal," Calvin responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a grimace. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."