Charlie woke up with a sniff. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a derby and a blouse. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the family room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited ten of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like cribbage and crazy eights. His dad was planning to make plenty of tacos and crumb cake for everyone. Charlie would try to blow out all two candles on the maroon and turquoise cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Charlie would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an advertisement! He hoped it would be an abnormal advertisement. His friend Michaela had said she would give him a peace pipe, and his sister-in-law always gave him cool stuff like the sack she gave him last year. Charlie could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a blizzard was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his derby. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the swamp. He would have to wear a locket instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his blouse.
He bounced downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like wood. His dad was standing there with a ladle in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a shout.
"Hi Daddy!" Charlie replied violently. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the tacos," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra cracker crumbs. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Charlie replied calmly. "Do we have the crumb cake ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," his father replied hopefully. "It only has to roast for twenty-three minutes."
"Okay," Charlie replied cleverly. "I'm gonna go to the family room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some mulligan stew in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the family room 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," Charlie responded, as he sat down to his mulligan stew. "Let's hang lots of forest green balloons and cover the water bed and the chest of drawers with beige crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father grudgingly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Vivian Smith. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a candy thermometer."
"Bless you," Charlie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a coo. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."