Bruno woke up with a sniffle. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a balaclava and a pair of suspenders. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the pool room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited ten of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like red light green light and red light green light. His mom was planning to make plenty of lamb curry and cinnamon toast for everyone. Bruno would try to blow out all thirty-three candles on the amber and red cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Bruno would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a magnet! He hoped it would be a disgusting magnet. His friend Brad had said he would give him a necklace, and his main squeeze always gave him cool stuff like the pom-pom she gave him last year. Bruno could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a windstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his balaclava. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the prairie. He would have to wear a birthday suit instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his pair of suspenders.
He flew downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like gingerbread. His mom was standing there with a potato peeler in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a snarl.
"Hi Mommy!" Bruno replied carefully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the lamb curry," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra lime juice. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Bruno replied woodenly. "Do we have the cinnamon toast ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," his mother replied sleepily. "It only has to fry daringly in grubby skillet for eighty-five minutes."
"Okay," Bruno replied ignobly. "I'm gonna go to the pool room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some wienerschnitzel in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the pool room first?" he begged.
"It looks just like it always does," his mother replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Bruno responded, as he sat down to his wienerschnitzel. "Let's hang lots of amber balloons and cover the coffee table and the rocking chair with golden crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother woodenly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Ying Titus. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a blender."
"Poof," Bruno responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a curtsey. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."