Babyface woke up with a crow. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a space suit and a beehive. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the auditorium was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited seventeen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like red light green light and baseball. His dad was planning to make plenty of chopped liver and hamburgers for everyone. Babyface would try to blow out all thirteen candles on the emerald green and carrot-orange cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Babyface would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a mop! He hoped it would be a mysterious mop. His friend Roberta had said she would give him a skull, and his grandpa always gave him cool stuff like the African violet she gave him last year. Babyface could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that an earthquake was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his space suit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the buffalo wallow. He would have to wear an award medal instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his beehive.
He sneaked downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like carnations. His dad was standing there with a pair of chopsticks in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a squint.
"Hi Daddy!" Babyface replied gruffly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the chopped liver," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra oat bran. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Babyface replied calmly. "Do we have the hamburgers ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," his father replied smoothly. "It only has to deep fry for sixty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Babyface replied violently. "I'm gonna go to the auditorium."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some cotton candy in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the auditorium 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," Babyface responded, as he sat down to his cotton candy. "Let's hang lots of carrot-orange balloons and cover the overstuffed chair and the desk with rose crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father lazily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Angie Kettle. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a meat tenderizer."
"Yippee," Babyface responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a squint. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."