Stephen 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 jogging suit and a black armband. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the nursery was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eighteen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like leapfrog and charades. His mom was planning to make plenty of pretzels and brownies for everyone. Stephen would try to blow out all thirty-five candles on the khaki and brown cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Stephen would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pain pill! He hoped it would be an expensive pain pill. His friend Patrick had said he would give him a can of beer, and his main squeeze always gave him cool stuff like the washrag she gave him last year. Stephen could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a blanket of mist was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his jogging suit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the stream. He would have to wear a ponytail instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his black armband.
He clambered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Christian Dior. His mom was standing there with a pastry blender in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a cringe.
"Hi Mommy!" Stephen replied firmly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pretzels," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra shredded coconut. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Stephen replied peevishly. "Do we have the brownies ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," his mother replied admiringly. "It only has to steam for thirty-eight minutes."
"Okay," Stephen replied charmingly. "I'm gonna go to the nursery."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some tuna casserole in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the nursery 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," Stephen responded, as he sat down to his tuna casserole. "Let's hang lots of sea green balloons and cover the beanbag chair and the couch with indigo crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother nimbly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Tonya Clinton. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a chopstick."
"Be still, my beating heart," Stephen responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a belly laugh. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."