Russell 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 miniskirt and a beehive. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the guest room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited sixteen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like red rover and Russian roulette. His mom was planning to make plenty of strawberry shortcake and lobster for everyone. Russell would try to blow out all twelve candles on the navy blue and black cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Russell would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a bag of groceries! He hoped it would be a ridged bag of groceries. His friend Solomon had said he would give him an etching, and his sister always gave him cool stuff like the protest sign she gave him last year. Russell 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 miniskirt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the battlefield. He would have to wear a scarf instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his beehive.
He leapt downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like vanilla. His mom was standing there with an electric paint mixer in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a snigger.
"Hi Mommy!" Russell replied woodenly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the strawberry shortcake," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra chicken. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Russell replied proudly. "Do we have the lobster ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," his mother replied proudly. "It only has to poach lightly for thirty-five minutes."
"Okay," Russell replied blankly. "I'm gonna go to the guest room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some smoked salmon in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the guest 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," Russell responded, as he sat down to his smoked salmon. "Let's hang lots of olive drab balloons and cover the four-poster bed and the coat rack with brilliant orange crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother dreamily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Paige Dayton. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a fork."
"Chirp," Russell responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a death glare. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."