Benjamin woke up with a yawn. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a beanie and a camisole. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the bathroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited one of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like jacks and Parcheesi. His mom was planning to make plenty of smoked salmon and dry toast for everyone. Benjamin would try to blow out all thirty-two candles on the ivory and amber cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Benjamin would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a stick of gum! He hoped it would be a miniature stick of gum. His friend Albert had said he would give him a mirror, and his grandpa always gave him cool stuff like the cowbell she gave him last year. Benjamin could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dust storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his beanie. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the veld. He would have to wear a Stetson hat instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his camisole.
He swaggered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like incense. His mom was standing there with a melon baller in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a blush.
"Hi Mommy!" Benjamin replied surreptitiously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the smoked salmon," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra okra. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Benjamin replied stupidly. "Do we have the dry toast ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," his mother replied sorrowfully. "It only has to spread into container for seventy-eight minutes."
"Okay," Benjamin replied sorrowfully. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some doughnuts 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 mother replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Benjamin responded, as he sat down to his doughnuts. "Let's hang lots of blue balloons and cover the desk and the credenza with silver crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother brashly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Rosemary Biggs. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a dull knife."
"Gadzooks and crapadoodle," Benjamin responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a dope slap. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."