Fritz woke up with a twitch. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a bomber jacket and a cowboy hat. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the nursery was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited sixteen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like Cootie and baseball. His dad was planning to make plenty of apple pie and lobster bisque for everyone. Fritz would try to blow out all twelve candles on the peach and green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Fritz would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a blanket! He hoped it would be a coarse blanket. His friend Lillian had said she would give him an ice cream cone, and his mom always gave him cool stuff like the rose she gave him last year. Fritz could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a sleet storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his bomber jacket. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the buffalo wallow. He would have to wear a big grin instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his cowboy hat.
He jumped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like buttermilk. His dad was standing there with a napkin in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a cackle.
"Hi Daddy!" Fritz replied cruelly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the apple pie," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra pretzels. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Fritz replied miserably. "Do we have the lobster bisque ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," his father replied repeatedly. "It only has to toast for forty-four minutes."
"Okay," Fritz replied ruefully. "I'm gonna go to the nursery."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some cookies in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the nursery 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," Fritz responded, as he sat down to his cookies. "Let's hang lots of polka dotted balloons and cover the filing cabinet and the sofa with red crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father sweetly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Martina Ping. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a wooden spoon."
"Tarnation," Fritz responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a sigh. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."