Rico woke up with a curtsey. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a diamond bracelet and a rain coat. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the salon was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited one of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like follow the leader and Simon Says. His dad was planning to make plenty of shrimp and lobster for everyone. Rico would try to blow out all thirty-two candles on the sea green and navy blue cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Rico would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a bird cage! He hoped it would be a smelly bird cage. His friend Ethel had said she would give him an acorn, and his grandfather always gave him cool stuff like the jar of olives she gave him last year. Rico could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drought was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his diamond bracelet. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the valley. He would have to wear a towel instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his rain coat.
He loped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a wet dog. His dad was standing there with an ice pick in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with an air kiss.
"Hi Daddy!" Rico replied roughly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the shrimp," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra asparagus. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Rico replied accidentally. "Do we have the lobster ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," his father replied bitterly. "It only has to braise for fifty-five minutes."
"Okay," Rico replied diligently. "I'm gonna go to the salon."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some roast turkey in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the salon 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," Rico responded, as he sat down to his roast turkey. "Let's hang lots of black balloons and cover the beanbag chair and the coat rack with lavender crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father delicately. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Lorie Saramago. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a potato peeler."
"Pish posh," Rico responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a snort. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."