Bruno woke up with a giggle. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a girdle and a bustier. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the dining room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-eight of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like red rover and badminton. His mom was planning to make plenty of squash blossom soup and tofu for everyone. Bruno would try to blow out all twenty-two candles on the scarlet and teal cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Bruno would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a spool of thread! He hoped it would be a wet spool of thread. His friend Jared had said he would give him a bottle of perfume, and his sister always gave him cool stuff like the pepper grinder she gave him last year. Bruno could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a rainbow was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his girdle. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the hill. He would have to wear a turtleneck instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his bustier.
He scampered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a compost pile. His mom was standing there with a fork in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a smack.
"Hi Mommy!" Bruno replied ruefully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the squash blossom soup," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra grated Romano cheese. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Bruno replied brashly. "Do we have the tofu ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," his mother replied noisily. "It only has to place on serving dish for four minutes."
"Okay," Bruno replied testily. "I'm gonna go to the dining room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some Cheerios in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the dining room 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," Bruno responded, as he sat down to his Cheerios. "Let's hang lots of olive green balloons and cover the canopy bed and the ping-pong table with tan crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother positively. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Anna Beagle. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a wooden spoon."
"Bada bing bada boom," Bruno responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a giggle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."