Thad woke up with a face palm. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a skeleton costume and a nose ring. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the family room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eighteen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like Russian roulette and poker. His mom was planning to make plenty of mulligan stew and tacos for everyone. Thad would try to blow out all nine candles on the rose and maroon cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Thad would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a brochure! He hoped it would be a hard brochure. His friend Shamus had said he would give him a hat, and his sister-in-law always gave him cool stuff like the peace pipe she gave him last year. Thad could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dense fog was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his skeleton costume. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the countryside. He would have to wear a beehive instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his nose ring.
He slunk downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like spearmint. His mom was standing there with a dull knife in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a snort.
"Hi Mommy!" Thad replied lovingly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the mulligan stew," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra red cabbage. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Thad replied surreptitiously. "Do we have the tacos ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," his mother replied automatically. "It only has to poach lightly for seventy-three minutes."
"Okay," Thad replied coolly. "I'm gonna go to the family room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some lobster in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the family 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," Thad responded, as he sat down to his lobster. "Let's hang lots of tan balloons and cover the armoire and the futon with ivory crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother rapidly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Clio Vincent. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a pastry blender."
"Diddly poo," Thad responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a giggle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."