Pedro woke up with a hoot. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a bedsheet and a few hefty rags. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the cage was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited sixteen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like baseball and croquet. His mom was planning to make plenty of waffles and candy for everyone. Pedro would try to blow out all five candles on the scarlet and pea green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Pedro would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a biscuit! He hoped it would be a nifty biscuit. His friend Alton had said he would give him a clock, and his fiancée always gave him cool stuff like the pencil she gave him last year. Pedro could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dust storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his bedsheet. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the battlefield. He would have to wear a watch instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his few hefty rags.
He crawled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like fresh coffee. His mom was standing there with a bare foot in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a wince.
"Hi Mommy!" Pedro replied gleefully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the waffles," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra green chiles. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Pedro replied later. "Do we have the candy ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," his mother replied lickety-split. "It only has to spoon into container for fifteen minutes."
"Okay," Pedro replied joyously. "I'm gonna go to the cage."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some scrambled eggs in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the cage 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," Pedro responded, as he sat down to his scrambled eggs. "Let's hang lots of salmon balloons and cover the ironing board and the rug with brown crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother bravely. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Avery Albrandt. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a meat tenderizer."
"Mommy," Pedro responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a death glare. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."