Cedric woke up with a twitch. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a helmet and a tutu. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the dining room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-three of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like tennis and musical chairs. His dad was planning to make plenty of ramen noodles and lamb curry for everyone. Cedric would try to blow out all thirty candles on the brown and turquoise cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Cedric would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an Egyptian mummy! He hoped it would be a wooden Egyptian mummy. His friend Olga had said she would give him a paperclip, and his aunt always gave him cool stuff like the grease gun she gave him last year. Cedric could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a typhoon was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his helmet. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the hayfield. He would have to wear a wig instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his tutu.
He reeled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like rum. His dad was standing there with a turkey baster in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a jeer.
"Hi Daddy!" Cedric replied shakily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ramen noodles," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra parsley. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Cedric replied sympathetically. "Do we have the lamb curry ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," his father replied elatedly. "It only has to grill for thirty-one minutes."
"Okay," Cedric replied sheepishly. "I'm gonna go to the dining room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some French fries in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the dining room 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," Cedric responded, as he sat down to his French fries. "Let's hang lots of silver balloons and cover the ping-pong table and the card table with sea green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father blissfully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Velma Clapper. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a slotted spoon."
"Amen," Cedric responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a snort. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."