Quint woke up with a flutter. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a beanie and a camisole. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the rec room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited fourteen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like shuffleboard and roulette. His mom was planning to make plenty of macaroni and cheese and brownies for everyone. Quint would try to blow out all twenty-five candles on the pea green and violet cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Quint would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a baby doll! He hoped it would be a tiny baby doll. His friend Cosmo had said he would give him a pom-pom, and his mom always gave him cool stuff like the ashtray she gave him last year. Quint could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a tornado was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his beanie. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the stream. He would have to wear a pair of pantaloons instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his camisole.
He zipped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like bananas. His mom was standing there with a Sham-Wow! in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a guffaw.
"Hi Mommy!" Quint replied greedily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the macaroni and cheese," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra orange juice. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Quint replied fiercely. "Do we have the brownies ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," his mother replied lamely. "It only has to whirl for nineteen minutes."
"Okay," Quint replied again. "I'm gonna go to the rec room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some sushi in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the rec 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," Quint responded, as he sat down to his sushi. "Let's hang lots of olive green balloons and cover the china hutch and the bath mat with crimson crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother crankily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Evette Palin. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a fork."
"Kapow," Quint responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a roar. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."