Donald woke up with a grin. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a tuxedo and a military uniform. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the linen closet was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-four of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like jacks and poker. His dad was planning to make plenty of oyster on the half-shell and shrimp for everyone. Donald would try to blow out all twenty-one candles on the chartreuse and polka dotted cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Donald would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an ironing board! He hoped it would be a ragged ironing board. His friend Susan had said she would give him a statue, and his girlfriend always gave him cool stuff like the lollipop she gave him last year. Donald could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hot, sunny day was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his tuxedo. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the plain. He would have to wear a fez instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his military uniform.
He scurried downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like gardenias. His dad was standing there with a slotted spoon in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a pucker.
"Hi Daddy!" Donald replied ignobly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the oyster on the half-shell," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra fresh papaya. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Donald replied primly. "Do we have the shrimp ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," his father replied intensely. "It only has to fry gleefully in amazing skillet for fourteen minutes."
"Okay," Donald replied sorrowfully. "I'm gonna go to the linen closet."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some cotton candy in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the linen closet 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," Donald responded, as he sat down to his cotton candy. "Let's hang lots of sea green balloons and cover the four-poster bed and the chest of drawers with green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father daringly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Annabelle Proctor. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a chopstick."
"Great Scott," Donald responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a hiccup. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."