Jared woke up with a grin. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a flour sack and a cat suit. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the library was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eighteen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like crazy eights and Monopoly. His dad was planning to make plenty of ham and crab rangoon for everyone. Jared would try to blow out all fifteen candles on the turquoise and beige cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Jared would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a toy! He hoped it would be a prickly toy. His friend Faye had said she would give him a flowerpot, and his girlfriend always gave him cool stuff like the paper bag she gave him last year. Jared 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 flour sack. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the meadow. He would have to wear a set of dentures instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his cat suit.
He proceeded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like hot cocoa. His dad was standing there with a fork in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a twitch.
"Hi Daddy!" Jared replied warmly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ham," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra water. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Jared replied crankily. "Do we have the crab rangoon ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," his father replied hopelessly. "It only has to deep fry for eight minutes."
"Okay," Jared replied woodenly. "I'm gonna go to the library."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some popcorn in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the library 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," Jared responded, as he sat down to his popcorn. "Let's hang lots of jet black balloons and cover the workbench and the file cabinet with white crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father menacingly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Candy Mitchell. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a paring knife."
"Alrighty," Jared responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a sneer. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."