Nicolas woke up with a caress. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a shirt and a mask. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the master bedroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited thirty of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like trivia and musical chairs. His dad was planning to make plenty of sauerkraut and dry toast for everyone. Nicolas would try to blow out all fifteen candles on the maroon and fuchsia cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Nicolas would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a hand puppet! He hoped it would be a gleaming hand puppet. His friend Lianlin had said she would give him a piece of candy, and his sister always gave him cool stuff like the bottle of perfume she gave him last year. Nicolas could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drizzle was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his shirt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the moonscape. He would have to wear a pair of galoshes instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his mask.
He zipped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like chocolate cake. His dad was standing there with an electric mixer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a wince.
"Hi Daddy!" Nicolas replied automatically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the sauerkraut," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra salmon. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Nicolas replied charmingly. "Do we have the dry toast ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," his father replied carefully. "It only has to place on serving dish for eighteen minutes."
"Okay," Nicolas replied shyly. "I'm gonna go to the master bedroom."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some enchiladas in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the master bedroom 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," Nicolas responded, as he sat down to his enchiladas. "Let's hang lots of blue balloons and cover the dresser and the file cabinet with olive green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father again. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Meghan Witherbee. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a slotted spoon."
"Alley oop," Nicolas responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a sneer. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."