Knuckles woke up with a cheer. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a girdle and a set of braces. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the laundry room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited six of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like Cootie and trivia. His mom was planning to make plenty of scrambled eggs and spaghetti for everyone. Knuckles would try to blow out all twenty-six candles on the green and teal cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Knuckles would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a stack of papers! He hoped it would be a peculiar stack of papers. His friend Rico had said he would give him a button, and his sister always gave him cool stuff like the crate she gave him last year. Knuckles could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a rainbow was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his girdle. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the gulch. He would have to wear a tie instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his set of braces.
He traipsed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like pizza. His mom was standing there with a basting brush in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a tear.
"Hi Mommy!" Knuckles replied suspiciously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the scrambled eggs," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra anchovy. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Knuckles replied fervently. "Do we have the spaghetti ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," his mother replied grimly. "It only has to bake at 450 degrees F for fifty-five minutes."
"Okay," Knuckles replied flightily. "I'm gonna go to the laundry room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some roast turkey in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the laundry 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," Knuckles responded, as he sat down to his roast turkey. "Let's hang lots of hot pink balloons and cover the computer and the hope chest with metallic red crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother gingerly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Mopsy Provenzano. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an oven mitt."
"Zap," Knuckles responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a hiccup. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."