Jess woke up with a snarl. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a helmet and a suit. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the boudoir was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-seven of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like cribbage and billiards. His mom was planning to make plenty of pretzels and shrimp for everyone. Jess would try to blow out all twenty-two candles on the hot pink and crimson cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Jess would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a flashlight! He hoped it would be a shiny flashlight. His friend Anatoly had said he would give him a twig, and his grandmother always gave him cool stuff like the bag of ice she gave him last year. Jess could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a flood 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 savanna. He would have to wear a fez instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his suit.
He padded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Cartier. His mom was standing there with an egg cutter in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a raspberry.
"Hi Mommy!" Jess replied delicately. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pretzels," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra canned beans. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Jess replied sharply. "Do we have the shrimp ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," his mother replied fearlessly. "It only has to spread into container for twelve minutes."
"Okay," Jess replied vigorously. "I'm gonna go to the boudoir."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some roast turkey in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the boudoir 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," Jess responded, as he sat down to his roast turkey. "Let's hang lots of periwinkle balloons and cover the settee and the pillow with navy blue crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother daintily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Claudia Bennett. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a spatula."
"You don't say," Jess responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a yawn. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."