Roman woke up with a shiver. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a fur coat and a pair of toe shoes. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the kitchen was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited seventeen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like Monopoly and badminton. His mom was planning to make plenty of potatoes and gravy and hot dogs for everyone. Roman would try to blow out all thirty-five candles on the aqua and sea green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Roman would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a cupcake! He hoped it would be an imported cupcake. His friend Clifford had said he would give him a pigeon, and his mother-in-law always gave him cool stuff like the bottle she gave him last year. Roman could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a thunderstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his fur coat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the oasis. He would have to wear a pair of moon boots instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his pair of toe shoes.
He climbed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like road kill. His mom was standing there with a spoon in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a wink.
"Hi Mommy!" Roman replied calmly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the potatoes and gravy," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra potatoes. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Roman replied reluctantly. "Do we have the hot dogs ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," his mother replied busily. "It only has to toast for eighty-eight minutes."
"Okay," Roman replied cheerfully. "I'm gonna go to the kitchen."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some pumpkin pie in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the kitchen 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," Roman responded, as he sat down to his pumpkin pie. "Let's hang lots of polka dotted balloons and cover the end table and the chest of drawers with magenta crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother energetically. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Jane Judd. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a strainer."
"Like, totally," Roman responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a jeer. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."