Darryl woke up with a cackle. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a belt buckle and a name tag. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the kitchen was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like golf and crazy eights. His dad was planning to make plenty of ham and waffles for everyone. Darryl would try to blow out all twenty-nine candles on the sea green and mauve cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Darryl would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a flag! He hoped it would be an excellent flag. His friend Giselle had said she would give him a billfold, and his mother-in-law always gave him cool stuff like the pepper grinder she gave him last year. Darryl could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that an ice storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his belt buckle. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the buffalo wallow. He would have to wear an overcoat instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his name tag.
He hopped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like plastic. His dad was standing there with a slotted spoon in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a snicker.
"Hi Daddy!" Darryl replied truculently. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ham," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra corn flakes. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Darryl replied angrily. "Do we have the waffles ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," his father replied offhandedly. "It only has to scramble for eighty-eight minutes."
"Okay," Darryl replied bravely. "I'm gonna go to the kitchen."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some ice cream in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the kitchen 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," Darryl responded, as he sat down to his ice cream. "Let's hang lots of purple balloons and cover the rocking chair and the sofa with mauve crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father gently. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Clarisa Strait. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a spatula."
"Really," Darryl responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a face palm. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."