Russell woke up with a bound. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a jacket and a beach towel. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the pantry was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited fourteen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like Simon Says and red light green light. His dad was planning to make plenty of dry toast and pecan pie for everyone. Russell would try to blow out all eleven candles on the khaki and hot pink cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Russell would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a box of Kleenex! He hoped it would be a primitive box of Kleenex. His friend Ying had said she would give him a hubcap, and his mentor always gave him cool stuff like the pop bottle she gave him last year. Russell could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a sleet storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his jacket. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the dump. He would have to wear a fedora instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his beach towel.
He climbed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like garlic. His dad was standing there with a potato masher in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a grunt.
"Hi Daddy!" Russell replied blankly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the dry toast," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra Italian sausage. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Russell replied noisily. "Do we have the pecan pie ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," his father replied admiringly. "It only has to blanch for twenty-three minutes."
"Okay," Russell replied crankily. "I'm gonna go to the pantry."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some Swiss cheese in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the pantry 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," Russell responded, as he sat down to his Swiss cheese. "Let's hang lots of hot pink balloons and cover the bunk bed and the washing machine with brown crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father unnaturally. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Sydmo Zhao. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a garlic press."
"Cool beans," Russell responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a honk. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."