Brandon woke up with a power fist. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a stovepipe hat and a pair of boxer shorts. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the auditorium was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-four of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like badminton and red light green light. His dad was planning to make plenty of jambalaya and falafel for everyone. Brandon would try to blow out all thirty-five candles on the grey and grey cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Brandon would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a rope! He hoped it would be a fuzzy rope. His friend Nora had said she would give him a flashlight, and his grandpa always gave him cool stuff like the painting she gave him last year. Brandon could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a gale was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his stovepipe hat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the mountainside. He would have to wear a pair of combat boots instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his pair of boxer shorts.
He slunk downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like sauerkraut. His dad was standing there with a chopstick in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a dope slap.
"Hi Daddy!" Brandon replied sternly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the jambalaya," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra mussels. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Brandon replied needlessly. "Do we have the falafel ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," his father replied woodenly. "It only has to shake for twenty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Brandon replied urgently. "I'm gonna go to the auditorium."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some ramen noodles in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the auditorium 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," Brandon responded, as he sat down to his ramen noodles. "Let's hang lots of aqua balloons and cover the cushion and the card table with maroon crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father diligently. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Nelda Gifford. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a food processor."
"Boy howdy," Brandon responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a guffaw. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."