Albert woke up with a fist bump. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a jumpsuit and a pair of Bermuda shorts. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the solarium was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twelve of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like leapfrog and red light green light. His dad was planning to make plenty of ramen noodles and roast Cornish game hen for everyone. Albert would try to blow out all sixteen candles on the peach and yellow cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Albert would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an orange! He hoped it would be a mechanical orange. His friend Tabitha had said she would give him a bag of potato chips, and his wife always gave him cool stuff like the protest sign she gave him last year. Albert could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a sleet storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his jumpsuit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the grassland. He would have to wear a pair of Groucho glasses instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his pair of Bermuda shorts.
He slipped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like greasepaint. His dad was standing there with a sharp knife in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with an evil eye.
"Hi Daddy!" Albert replied nicely. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ramen noodles," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra mushrooms. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Albert replied perkily. "Do we have the roast Cornish game hen ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," his father replied sympathetically. "It only has to heat in microwave for twenty minutes."
"Okay," Albert replied busily. "I'm gonna go to the solarium."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some dry toast in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the solarium 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," Albert responded, as he sat down to his dry toast. "Let's hang lots of scarlet balloons and cover the bed and the end table with azure crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father tensely. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Lucille Niederhaus. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an oven mitt."
"Meow," Albert responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a cringe. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."