Wayne woke up with a smirk. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a bonnet and a pair of overalls. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the guest room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-nine of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like Candy Land and red light green light. His mom was planning to make plenty of succotash and lamb curry for everyone. Wayne would try to blow out all twelve candles on the aquamarine and navy blue cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Wayne would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a ping-pong paddle! He hoped it would be a prickly ping-pong paddle. His friend Owen had said he would give him a pipe, and his aunt always gave him cool stuff like the bird feeder she gave him last year. Wayne could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that an earthquake was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his bonnet. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the hill. He would have to wear a letter jacket instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his pair of overalls.
He crawled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like roasted peppers. His mom was standing there with a piece of cheesecloth in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a pound of the chest.
"Hi Mommy!" Wayne replied flightily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the succotash," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra lettuce. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Wayne replied stealthily. "Do we have the lamb curry ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," his mother replied sharply. "It only has to press for seven minutes."
"Okay," Wayne replied dolorously. "I'm gonna go to the guest room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some cookies in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the guest 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," Wayne responded, as he sat down to his cookies. "Let's hang lots of olive drab balloons and cover the stairway and the bar stool with green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother humbly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Beulah Barrymore. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a pastry blender."
"Shucks," Wayne 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."