Morton woke up with a chortle. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a letter jacket and a pocket watch. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the tool shed was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited four of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like Mother May I and chess. His dad was planning to make plenty of French fries and cornbread for everyone. Morton would try to blow out all twenty-five candles on the salmon and tan cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Morton would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a tennis racket! He hoped it would be a synthetic tennis racket. His friend Jennessa had said she would give him a trash can, and his aunt always gave him cool stuff like the bird cage she gave him last year. Morton could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hot, sunny day was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his letter jacket. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the housing development. He would have to wear a pair of shorts instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his pocket watch.
He crawled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like cheese. His dad was standing there with a potato masher in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a wince.
"Hi Daddy!" Morton replied surreptitiously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the French fries," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra cilantro. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Morton replied sorrowfully. "Do we have the cornbread ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," his father replied humbly. "It only has to boil for sixty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Morton replied stealthily. "I'm gonna go to the tool shed."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some egg rolls in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the tool shed 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," Morton responded, as he sat down to his egg rolls. "Let's hang lots of maroon balloons and cover the ping-pong table and the computer with pea green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father furiously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Fawn Noon. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a napkin."
"Ooh," Morton responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a snicker. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."