Chad woke up with a bound. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a belt buckle and a garland. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the atrium was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited nine of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like hide and seek and Mother May I. His dad was planning to make plenty of Cheerios and ham for everyone. Chad would try to blow out all twenty-eight candles on the striped and peach cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Chad would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a hair brush! He hoped it would be a narrow hair brush. His friend Gillian had said she would give him a tablet computer, and his grandma always gave him cool stuff like the paperweight she gave him last year. Chad could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dense fog was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his belt buckle. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the field. He would have to wear a tam o'shanter instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his garland.
He barrelled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like toast. His dad was standing there with an electric mixer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a coo.
"Hi Daddy!" Chad replied offhandedly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the Cheerios," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra pitted cherries. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Chad replied sharply. "Do we have the ham ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," his father replied furiously. "It only has to smoke for fourteen minutes."
"Okay," Chad replied automatically. "I'm gonna go to the atrium."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some egg rolls in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the atrium 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," Chad responded, as he sat down to his egg rolls. "Let's hang lots of sea green balloons and cover the workbench and the billiard table with jet black crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father blankly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Lizzie Hopkins. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a foot."
"Ahh," Chad responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a honk. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."