Clifford woke up with a cringe. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a gold medal and a hearing aid. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the den was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eighteen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like Simon Says and hide and seek. His mom was planning to make plenty of fish and chips and prime rib for everyone. Clifford would try to blow out all five candles on the ivory and teal cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Clifford would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a paper bag! He hoped it would be a flaky paper bag. His friend Willie had said he would give him a corsage, and his mentor always gave him cool stuff like the Kindle she gave him last year. Clifford could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a typhoon was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his gold medal. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the housing development. He would have to wear a belly button jewel instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his hearing aid.
He skittered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like freshly baked cookies. His mom was standing there with a chopstick in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with an air kiss.
"Hi Mommy!" Clifford replied grimly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the fish and chips," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra pine nuts. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Clifford replied sleepily. "Do we have the prime rib ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," his mother replied pityingly. "It only has to refrigerate overnight for twelve minutes."
"Okay," Clifford replied sheepishly. "I'm gonna go to the den."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some moo goo gai pan in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the den 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," Clifford responded, as he sat down to his moo goo gai pan. "Let's hang lots of polka dotted balloons and cover the chair and the china hutch with sea green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother testily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Nelda Nix. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a ladle."
"Neato," Clifford responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a twitch. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."