Julian woke up with a face palm. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a few ridiculous rags and a pair of socks. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the pool room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited five of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like red light green light and tennis. His mom was planning to make plenty of chopped liver and candy for everyone. Julian would try to blow out all two candles on the black and grey cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Julian would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a cactus plant! He hoped it would be a gigantic cactus plant. His friend Antonio had said he would give him a bouquet, and his mommy always gave him cool stuff like the gun she gave him last year. Julian could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a lightning storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his few ridiculous rags. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the plateau. He would have to wear a jumper instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his pair of socks.
He sprinted downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a feed lot. His mom was standing there with a candy thermometer in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a roar.
"Hi Mommy!" Julian replied repeatedly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the chopped liver," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra active dry yeast. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Julian replied wryly. "Do we have the candy ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," his mother replied merrily. "It only has to place on serving dish for thirty minutes."
"Okay," Julian replied diligently. "I'm gonna go to the pool room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some ramen noodles in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the pool 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," Julian responded, as he sat down to his ramen noodles. "Let's hang lots of brown balloons and cover the four-poster bed and the dresser with camouflage crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother quickly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Darcy Knopf. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a strainer."
"Jeepers," Julian responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a chuckle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."