Cosmo woke up with a cheer. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a nose ring and a bomber jacket. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the dining room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited four of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like battleship and checkers. His mom was planning to make plenty of moo goo gai pan and Swiss cheese for everyone. Cosmo would try to blow out all twenty-eight candles on the fuchsia and aquamarine cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Cosmo would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a salt shaker! He hoped it would be a curved salt shaker. His friend Socks had said he would give him a bag of potato chips, and his aunt always gave him cool stuff like the ticket she gave him last year. Cosmo 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 nose ring. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the moonscape. He would have to wear a babushka instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his bomber jacket.
He inched downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like perfume. His mom was standing there with a meat thermometer in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a frown.
"Hi Mommy!" Cosmo replied coldly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the moo goo gai pan," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra salsa. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Cosmo replied craftily. "Do we have the Swiss cheese ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," his mother replied cunningly. "It only has to sear for thirty minutes."
"Okay," Cosmo replied valiantly. "I'm gonna go to the dining room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some pretzels in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the dining 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," Cosmo responded, as he sat down to his pretzels. "Let's hang lots of peach balloons and cover the coffee table and the rug with lavender crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother daringly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Darcy Chandler. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a dish cloth."
"Feh," Cosmo responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a hiccup. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."