Samuel woke up with a chortle. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a camisole and a set of braces. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the auditorium was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-nine of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like billiards and baseball. His dad was planning to make plenty of fondue and chicken pot pie for everyone. Samuel would try to blow out all twenty-two candles on the indigo and striped cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Samuel would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a boomerang! He hoped it would be a torn boomerang. His friend Edith had said she would give him a bottle of perfume, and his main squeeze always gave him cool stuff like the football she gave him last year. Samuel 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 camisole. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the canyon. He would have to wear a G-string instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his set of braces.
He sailed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like coffee. His dad was standing there with a whisk in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a fist bump.
"Hi Daddy!" Samuel replied cleverly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the fondue," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra dark beer. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Samuel replied softly. "Do we have the chicken pot pie ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," his father replied unabashedly. "It only has to deep fry for seventy-three minutes."
"Okay," Samuel replied flightily. "I'm gonna go to the auditorium."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some chicken gumbo 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," Samuel responded, as he sat down to his chicken gumbo. "Let's hang lots of red balloons and cover the toilet and the armoire with burgundy crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father courteously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Josephine McGrath. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a Sham-Wow!."
"Mother of peanut butter," Samuel responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a growl. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."