Kelly woke up with a smirk. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a toga and a rain coat. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the bathroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eleven of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like hearts and Mother May I. His mom was planning to make plenty of smoked salmon and dry toast for everyone. Kelly would try to blow out all thirty-one candles on the grey and burgundy cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Kelly would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a joint! He hoped it would be a wet joint. His friend Otto had said he would give him a flash drive, and his dad always gave him cool stuff like the coupon she gave him last year. Kelly 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 toga. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the housing development. He would have to wear a trench coat instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his rain coat.
He stormed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like elderberries. His mom was standing there with a corkscrew in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a giggle.
"Hi Mommy!" Kelly replied automatically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the smoked salmon," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra garlic. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Kelly replied ferociously. "Do we have the dry toast ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," his mother replied positively. "It only has to deep fry for thirty-four minutes."
"Okay," Kelly replied happily. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some ramen noodles in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the bathroom 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," Kelly responded, as he sat down to his ramen noodles. "Let's hang lots of forest green balloons and cover the bench and the dresser with terra cotta crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother languidly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Midge Barcelo. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a slotted spoon."
"Rubbish," Kelly responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a grin. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."