Douglas woke up with a simper. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a pair of Oxfords and a hearing aid. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the foyer was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited one of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like hopscotch and pool. His dad was planning to make plenty of roast turkey and tofu for everyone. Douglas would try to blow out all thirty-one candles on the aquamarine and white cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Douglas would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a carrot! He hoped it would be a grubby carrot. His friend Scarlett had said she would give him an air compressor, and his fiancée always gave him cool stuff like the pen she gave him last year. Douglas 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 pair of Oxfords. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the treetop. He would have to wear a bandana instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his hearing aid.
He bounced downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like roast turkey. His dad was standing there with a food processor in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a sigh.
"Hi Daddy!" Douglas replied hopefully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the roast turkey," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra pomegranate juice. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Douglas replied effortlessly. "Do we have the tofu ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," his father replied coldly. "It only has to fry fondly in curved skillet for seventy-three minutes."
"Okay," Douglas replied awkwardly. "I'm gonna go to the foyer."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some waffles in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the foyer first?" he begged.
"It looks just like it always does," his father replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Douglas responded, as he sat down to his waffles. "Let's hang lots of sea green balloons and cover the coffee table and the bed with hot pink crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father sarcastically. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Beatrice Lott. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a blender."
"Ka-ching," Douglas responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a clenched fist. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."