Matt woke up with a hug. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a beach towel and a bra. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the porch was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-four of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like ring around the rosie and hide and seek. His mom was planning to make plenty of Swiss cheese and pie a la mode for everyone. Matt would try to blow out all two candles on the khaki and amber cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Matt would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a saw! He hoped it would be a plastic saw. His friend Aristotle had said he would give him a garbage can, and his grandmother always gave him cool stuff like the shoe she gave him last year. Matt could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a tornado was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his beach towel. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the glen. He would have to wear a pair of cowboy boots instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his bra.
He flew downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like licorice. His mom was standing there with a pastry blender in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a furrowed brow.
"Hi Mommy!" Matt replied again. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the Swiss cheese," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra sweetened condensed milk. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Matt replied roughly. "Do we have the pie a la mode ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," his mother replied uselessly. "It only has to scramble for sixty-two minutes."
"Okay," Matt replied wryly. "I'm gonna go to the porch."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some egg salad sandwich in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the porch 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," Matt responded, as he sat down to his egg salad sandwich. "Let's hang lots of grey balloons and cover the footstool and the nightstand with maroon crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother boldly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Roberta Greer. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a wooden spoon."
"Now we're talking," Matt responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a raised eyebrow. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."