Mel woke up with a pound of the chest. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a pair of bell-bottoms and a set of football pads. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the bathroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited thirteen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like Monopoly and red rover. His dad was planning to make plenty of ravioli and mulligan stew for everyone. Mel would try to blow out all ten candles on the navy blue and brown cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Mel would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a spider! He hoped it would be a bronze spider. His friend Claire had said she would give him an egg shell, and his mom always gave him cool stuff like the saddle she gave him last year. Mel could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a downpour was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his pair of bell-bottoms. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the outback. He would have to wear a cape instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his set of football pads.
He stormed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like fruit. His dad was standing there with a corkscrew in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with an air kiss.
"Hi Daddy!" Mel replied greedily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ravioli," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra canned oysters. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Mel replied courteously. "Do we have the mulligan stew ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," his father replied hungrily. "It only has to smoke for eighty-one minutes."
"Okay," Mel replied craftily. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some tacos 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 father replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Mel responded, as he sat down to his tacos. "Let's hang lots of lime-green balloons and cover the cash register and the hamper with salmon crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father diligently. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Jane Stoltenburg. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a knife."
"Quiet," Mel responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a furrowed brow. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."