Clyde woke up with a smile. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a tunic and a tam o'shanter. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the nursery was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited six of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like Cootie and red rover. His mom was planning to make plenty of potatoes and gravy and refried beans for everyone. Clyde would try to blow out all fourteen candles on the grey and hot pink cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Clyde would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a doily! He hoped it would be a ridged doily. His friend Dylan had said he would give him a Hostess Ding Dong, and his cousin always gave him cool stuff like the bottle of perfume she gave him last year. Clyde 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 tunic. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the mountain. He would have to wear a cowboy hat instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his tam o'shanter.
He hopped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like rotting meat. His mom was standing there with a potato masher in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a wrinkled nose.
"Hi Mommy!" Clyde replied carefully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the potatoes and gravy," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra salt. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Clyde replied noisily. "Do we have the refried beans ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," his mother replied courteously. "It only has to marinate for eighty-three minutes."
"Okay," Clyde replied defiantly. "I'm gonna go to the nursery."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some clam chowder in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the nursery 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," Clyde responded, as he sat down to his clam chowder. "Let's hang lots of khaki balloons and cover the bar stool and the bathtub with chartreuse crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother peevishly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Tonya Winchester. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an electric paint mixer."
"Big deal," Clyde responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a twitch. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."