Jim woke up with a kiss. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a few smelly rags and a black armband. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the pantry was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited three of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like trivia and roulette. His dad was planning to make plenty of prune pudding and egg drop soup for everyone. Jim would try to blow out all twenty-six candles on the burgundy and metallic red cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Jim would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pepper grinder! He hoped it would be a spongy pepper grinder. His friend Alexis had said she would give him a tube of toothpaste, and his cousin always gave him cool stuff like the beach ball she gave him last year. Jim could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a sandstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his few smelly rags. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the tundra. He would have to wear a pair of briefs instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his black armband.
He loped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like autumn leaves. His dad was standing there with a slotted spoon in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a hug.
"Hi Daddy!" Jim replied gracefully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the prune pudding," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra wide egg noodles. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Jim replied gingerly. "Do we have the egg drop soup ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," his father replied sadly. "It only has to arrange for nine minutes."
"Okay," Jim replied valiantly. "I'm gonna go to the pantry."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some beans in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the pantry 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," Jim responded, as he sat down to his beans. "Let's hang lots of sea green balloons and cover the mattress and the canopy bed with mauve crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father temperamentally. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Tess Law. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an oven mitt."
"Yowsers," Jim responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a dope slap. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."