Kenneth woke up with a crow. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a belt and a pair of boxing gloves. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the living room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-five of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like red light green light and rummy. His mom was planning to make plenty of pie a la mode and steak for everyone. Kenneth would try to blow out all eleven candles on the magenta and magenta cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Kenneth would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a bicycle! He hoped it would be a curved bicycle. His friend Alf had said he would give him a dead weasel, and his fiancée always gave him cool stuff like the shovel she gave him last year. Kenneth could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a rainstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his belt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the forest. He would have to wear a bolo tie instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his pair of boxing gloves.
He sneaked downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like enchiladas. His mom was standing there with a spoon in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a chortle.
"Hi Mommy!" Kenneth replied elatedly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pie a la mode," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra bean sprouts. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Kenneth replied happily. "Do we have the steak ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," his mother replied boldly. "It only has to fry for sixty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Kenneth replied sleepily. "I'm gonna go to the living room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some tortillas in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the living 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," Kenneth responded, as he sat down to his tortillas. "Let's hang lots of terra cotta balloons and cover the file cabinet and the four-poster bed with navy blue crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother immediately. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Josephine Jackson. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a garlic press."
"Big whoop," Kenneth responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a chortle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."