Woody 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 tinfoil hat and a scarf. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the laundry room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-nine of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like jump rope and rummy. His dad was planning to make plenty of macaroni and hash for everyone. Woody would try to blow out all twenty-two candles on the sea green and aquamarine cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Woody would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a Van Gogh! He hoped it would be a dry Van Gogh. His friend Jeanette had said she would give him a church key, and his cousin always gave him cool stuff like the houseplant she gave him last year. Woody could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a flood was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his tinfoil hat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the moonscape. He would have to wear a pair of contact lenses instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his scarf.
He paraded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like bananas. His dad was standing there with a corkscrew in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a wag of the finger.
"Hi Daddy!" Woody replied lazily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the macaroni," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra calamari. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Woody replied sagely. "Do we have the hash ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," his father replied wryly. "It only has to broil for six minutes."
"Okay," Woody replied oddly. "I'm gonna go to the laundry room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some cabbage in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the laundry room 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," Woody responded, as he sat down to his cabbage. "Let's hang lots of purple balloons and cover the billiard table and the table with green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father coolly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Doralene Lions. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a wooden spoon."
"Bleep," Woody responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a blush. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."