Paco woke up with a shrug. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in an award medal and an armband. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the atrium was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited nineteen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like charades and tennis. His mom was planning to make plenty of dry toast and chicken soup for everyone. Paco would try to blow out all nine candles on the red and magenta cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Paco would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a stick of gum! He hoped it would be a narrow stick of gum. His friend Lucifer had said he would give him a box of Kleenex, and his mom always gave him cool stuff like the key she gave him last year. Paco could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a lightning storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his award medal. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the housing development. He would have to wear a gorilla suit instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his armband.
He skidded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like apple pie. His mom was standing there with a sharp knife in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a jeer.
"Hi Mommy!" Paco replied hopefully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the dry toast," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra chocolate chips. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Paco replied rapidly. "Do we have the chicken soup ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," his mother replied arrogantly. "It only has to sauté for twenty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Paco replied nimbly. "I'm gonna go to the atrium."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some cherries jubilee 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 mother replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Paco responded, as he sat down to his cherries jubilee. "Let's hang lots of jet black balloons and cover the bookcase and the file cabinet with black crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother nicely. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Evelyn Arthur. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a corkscrew."
"What in tarnation," Paco responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a sniffle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."