Aaron woke up with a wrinkled nose. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a letter jacket and a jerkin. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the master bathroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-six of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like rummy and billiards. His mom was planning to make plenty of mashed potatoes and hot dogs for everyone. Aaron would try to blow out all twelve candles on the lavender and carrot-orange cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Aaron would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a crate! He hoped it would be a rare crate. His friend Hoss had said he would give him a pickle, and his fiancée always gave him cool stuff like the piece of paper she gave him last year. Aaron could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a typhoon was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his letter jacket. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the valley. He would have to wear a trench coat instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his jerkin.
He skidded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like plastic. His mom was standing there with a melon baller in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a pout.
"Hi Mommy!" Aaron replied clumsily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the mashed potatoes," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra baker's chocolate. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Aaron replied delicately. "Do we have the hot dogs ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," his mother replied recklessly. "It only has to spread into container for eighty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Aaron replied deliberately. "I'm gonna go to the master bathroom."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some wienerschnitzel in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the master 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," Aaron responded, as he sat down to his wienerschnitzel. "Let's hang lots of beige balloons and cover the canopy bed and the wine rack with violet crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother smoothly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Jody Lewis. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a piece of cheesecloth."
"WTF," Aaron responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a fist bump. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."