Joe woke up with a glare. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a pair of shoes and a beanie. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the solarium was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-three of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like tag and battleship. His dad was planning to make plenty of ramen noodles and smoked salmon for everyone. Joe would try to blow out all six candles on the white and green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Joe would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a microphone! He hoped it would be a synthetic microphone. His friend Elise had said she would give him an orange, and his grandpa always gave him cool stuff like the whoopee cushion she gave him last year. Joe 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 pair of shoes. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the briar patch. He would have to wear a trench coat instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his beanie.
He waded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like flatulence. His dad was standing there with an ice pick in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a kiss.
"Hi Daddy!" Joe replied cleverly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ramen noodles," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra tofu. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Joe replied urgently. "Do we have the smoked salmon ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," his father replied merrily. "It only has to press for fifty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Joe replied peevishly. "I'm gonna go to the solarium."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some lamb curry in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the solarium 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," Joe responded, as he sat down to his lamb curry. "Let's hang lots of chartreuse balloons and cover the dresser and the counter with olive drab crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father reluctantly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Amanda Crabtree. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a dish cloth."
"Holy buckets," Joe responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a snigger. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."