Sam woke up with a coo. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a hair net and a necklace. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the laundry room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited nine of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like hide and seek and solitaire. His dad was planning to make plenty of strawberry shortcake and oyster on the half-shell for everyone. Sam would try to blow out all thirty-four candles on the ivory and jet black cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Sam would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a banana! He hoped it would be an old banana. His friend Meghan had said she would give him an ingot of plutonium, and his cousin always gave him cool stuff like the clock she gave him last year. Sam could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a blizzard was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his hair net. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the crime scene. He would have to wear a pair of glasses instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his necklace.
He dashed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like cedar. His dad was standing there with a spatula in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a pout.
"Hi Daddy!" Sam replied majestically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the strawberry shortcake," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra ground pork. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Sam replied resignedly. "Do we have the oyster on the half-shell ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," his father replied lickety-split. "It only has to age for twenty-three minutes."
"Okay," Sam replied temperamentally. "I'm gonna go to the laundry room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some cinnamon toast in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the laundry room 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," Sam responded, as he sat down to his cinnamon toast. "Let's hang lots of lime-green balloons and cover the hammock and the counter with indigo crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father gruffly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Sheryl Quinn. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a spatula."
"Yoohoo," Sam responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a wrinkled nose. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."