Danny woke up with a glare. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a tattoo and a false beard. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the front porch was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited three of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like solitaire and volleyball. His dad was planning to make plenty of cornbread and egg salad sandwich for everyone. Danny would try to blow out all seventeen candles on the purple and rose cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Danny would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a hair brush! He hoped it would be an odd hair brush. His friend Anne had said she would give him a spider, and his cousin always gave him cool stuff like the china doll she gave him last year. Danny 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 tattoo. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the ridge. He would have to wear a wizard's hat instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his false beard.
He dove downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like grapefruit. His dad was standing there with a ladle in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a pout.
"Hi Daddy!" Danny replied temperamentally. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cornbread," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra raisins. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Danny replied uselessly. "Do we have the egg salad sandwich ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," his father replied resignedly. "It only has to place on serving dish for thirty minutes."
"Okay," Danny replied boisterously. "I'm gonna go to the front porch."
"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 front porch 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," Danny responded, as he sat down to his ramen noodles. "Let's hang lots of brilliant orange balloons and cover the four-poster bed and the counter with beige crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father vigorously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Mackenzie Bibbles. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a dish cloth."
"Gosh almighty," Danny responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a chortle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."