Nickolas woke up with a hoot. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a name tag and a derby. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the game room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited ten of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like marbles and jump rope. His mom was planning to make plenty of cornbread and chicken soup for everyone. Nickolas would try to blow out all thirty-three candles on the terra cotta and brilliant orange cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Nickolas would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a hammer! He hoped it would be a polished hammer. His friend Beelzebub had said he would give him a baseball, and his mom always gave him cool stuff like the package she gave him last year. Nickolas could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a rainbow was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his name tag. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the dumpster. He would have to wear a set of braces instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his derby.
He slunk downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like rotting meat. His mom was standing there with a pair of tongs in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a backward glance.
"Hi Mommy!" Nickolas replied sagely. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cornbread," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra anchovy. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Nickolas replied sleepily. "Do we have the chicken soup ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," his mother replied gratefully. "It only has to toast for twelve minutes."
"Okay," Nickolas replied shakily. "I'm gonna go to the game room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some borscht in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the game room 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," Nickolas responded, as he sat down to his borscht. "Let's hang lots of teal balloons and cover the dresser and the dresser with golden crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother slowly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Nettie Xu. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a foot."
"Unreal," Nickolas responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a bound. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."