Bart woke up with a face palm. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a sarong and a letter jacket. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the living room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited nineteen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like tag and hearts. His mom was planning to make plenty of beans and hot dogs for everyone. Bart would try to blow out all thirty-five candles on the black and aqua cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Bart would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a cookbook! He hoped it would be a crooked cookbook. His friend Tex had said he would give him a spinning wheel, and his dad always gave him cool stuff like the coat check ticket she gave him last year. Bart could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a period of warm weather was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his sarong. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the hill. He would have to wear a beach towel instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his letter jacket.
He trotted downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a sardine cannery. His mom was standing there with a wooden spoon in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with an air kiss.
"Hi Mommy!" Bart replied charmingly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the beans," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra diced pineapple. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Bart replied caustically. "Do we have the hot dogs ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," his mother replied dreamily. "It only has to freeze for thirty-one minutes."
"Okay," Bart replied unabashedly. "I'm gonna go to the living room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some refried beans in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the living room 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," Bart responded, as he sat down to his refried beans. "Let's hang lots of metallic red balloons and cover the mattress and the canopy bed with olive drab crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother zestily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Sandi Adams. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a mixing spoon."
"Alley oop," Bart responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a pout. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."