Nathaniel woke up with a flutter. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a cocktail dress and a pair of booties. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the atrium was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited seventeen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like crazy eights and badminton. His dad was planning to make plenty of crab rangoon and egg salad sandwich for everyone. Nathaniel would try to blow out all twenty candles on the emerald green and olive drab cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Nathaniel would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a magnet! He hoped it would be a hard magnet. His friend Sandi had said she would give him a football, and his sister always gave him cool stuff like the floppy disk she gave him last year. Nathaniel could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a pall of doom was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his cocktail dress. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the marsh. He would have to wear a pair of combat boots instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his pair of booties.
He loped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like liver and onions. His dad was standing there with a grater in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a wince.
"Hi Daddy!" Nathaniel replied hastily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the crab rangoon," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra onion. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Nathaniel replied sternly. "Do we have the egg salad sandwich ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," his father replied properly. "It only has to slow cook for eighty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Nathaniel replied sympathetically. "I'm gonna go to the atrium."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some lime sherbet 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," Nathaniel responded, as he sat down to his lime sherbet. "Let's hang lots of periwinkle balloons and cover the windowsill and the card table with periwinkle crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father effortlessly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Heather Biggs. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a fork."
"Hush," Nathaniel responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a finger gun. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."