DeWitt woke up with a jeer. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a diamond necklace and a bandana. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the master bedroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-two of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like volleyball and leapfrog. His dad was planning to make plenty of roast beef and pretzels for everyone. DeWitt would try to blow out all twenty candles on the chocolate brown and navy blue cake. While the guests were eating their cake, DeWitt would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a hand puppet! He hoped it would be a crusty hand puppet. His friend Laura had said she would give him a bucket, and his dad always gave him cool stuff like the bag of ice she gave him last year. DeWitt could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a thunderstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his diamond necklace. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the hill. He would have to wear a bib instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his bandana.
He bounced downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like sea mist. His dad was standing there with a chopstick in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a honk.
"Hi Daddy!" DeWitt replied sarcastically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the roast beef," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra sage. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," DeWitt replied despondently. "Do we have the pretzels ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," his father replied sadly. "It only has to fry openly in torn skillet for seventy-six minutes."
"Okay," DeWitt replied jokingly. "I'm gonna go to the master bedroom."
"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 master bedroom 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," DeWitt responded, as he sat down to his cotton candy. "Let's hang lots of black balloons and cover the footstool and the cushion with grey crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father suddenly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Louise Sekora. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a melon baller."
"Get out," DeWitt responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a smile. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."