Derek woke up with a raised eyebrow. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a coat and a pair of Bermuda shorts. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the porch was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited one of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like red light green light and crazy eights. His mom was planning to make plenty of chocolate-covered ants and pretzels for everyone. Derek would try to blow out all eighteen candles on the black and brown cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Derek would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a shoe! He hoped it would be an overgrown shoe. His friend Henry had said he would give him a trash can, and his grandmother always gave him cool stuff like the smart phone she gave him last year. Derek could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drought was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his coat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the housing development. He would have to wear a pair of knickerbockers instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his pair of Bermuda shorts.
He traipsed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like sewage. His mom was standing there with a bare foot in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a wag of the finger.
"Hi Mommy!" Derek replied grandly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the chocolate-covered ants," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra Italian sausage. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Derek replied irritably. "Do we have the pretzels ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," his mother replied valiantly. "It only has to heat for forty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Derek replied thankfully. "I'm gonna go to the porch."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some pizza in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the porch 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," Derek responded, as he sat down to his pizza. "Let's hang lots of striped balloons and cover the mattress and the TV with aquamarine crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother elatedly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Marcy Evans. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a dish cloth."
"Now we're talking," Derek responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a sniff. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."