Roman woke up with a frown. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a pair of socks and a badger costume. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the workshop was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-nine of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like roulette and charades. His mom was planning to make plenty of smoked salmon and pie a la mode for everyone. Roman would try to blow out all seventeen candles on the blue and periwinkle cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Roman would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a feather duster! He hoped it would be a fuzzy feather duster. His friend Pinky had said he would give him an arrowhead, and his sister always gave him cool stuff like the dead goat she gave him last year. Roman could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hot, sunny day was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his pair of socks. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the grassland. He would have to wear a fez instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his badger costume.
He strolled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like hot cocoa. His mom was standing there with a potato peeler in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a dope slap.
"Hi Mommy!" Roman replied grimly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the smoked salmon," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra minced onion. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Roman replied wildly. "Do we have the pie a la mode ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," his mother replied deliberately. "It only has to grill for twenty minutes."
"Okay," Roman replied boisterously. "I'm gonna go to the workshop."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some oyster on the half-shell in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the workshop 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 oyster on the half-shell. "Let's hang lots of ivory balloons and cover the bookshelf and the water bed with emerald green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother demurely. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Lorna Niebels. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a strainer."
"Hold your horses," Roman responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a blush. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."