Brandon woke up with a crow. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a sweatshirt and a balaclava. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the parlor was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited nine of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like Monopoly and battleship. His mom was planning to make plenty of fish and chips and beans for everyone. Brandon would try to blow out all fifteen candles on the sea green and burgundy cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Brandon would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a peace pipe! He hoped it would be a fabulous peace pipe. His friend Sven had said he would give him an egg shell, and his grandmother always gave him cool stuff like the stack of papers she gave him last year. Brandon could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a blanket of mist was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his sweatshirt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the backyard. He would have to wear a raincoat instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his balaclava.
He zoomed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a papermill. His mom was standing there with an electric mixer in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a shout.
"Hi Mommy!" Brandon replied sorrowfully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the fish and chips," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra chopped green pepper. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Brandon replied firmly. "Do we have the beans ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," his mother replied miserably. "It only has to fry cleverly in plastic skillet for forty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Brandon replied gleefully. "I'm gonna go to the parlor."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some apple pie in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the parlor 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," Brandon responded, as he sat down to his apple pie. "Let's hang lots of jade balloons and cover the counter and the coffee table with chocolate brown crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother crankily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Antoinette Bing. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a meat thermometer."
"Oh joy," Brandon responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a wink. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."