Shawn woke up with a yawn. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a tank top and a fox costume. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the billiard room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-eight of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like hopscotch and seven-up. His mom was planning to make plenty of catfish stew and brownies for everyone. Shawn would try to blow out all five candles on the striped and carrot-orange cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Shawn would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a firecracker! He hoped it would be a used firecracker. His friend Wilson had said he would give him a calculator, and his mother always gave him cool stuff like the barbell she gave him last year. Shawn could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drizzle was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his tank top. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the gulch. He would have to wear a derby instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his fox costume.
He strode downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like marijuana. His mom was standing there with a grater in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a snort.
"Hi Mommy!" Shawn replied joyously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the catfish stew," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra roquefort cheese. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Shawn replied victoriously. "Do we have the brownies ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," his mother replied brightly. "It only has to fry for sixty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Shawn replied haughtily. "I'm gonna go to the billiard room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some succotash in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the billiard 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," Shawn responded, as he sat down to his succotash. "Let's hang lots of olive drab balloons and cover the counter and the armoire with mauve crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother clumsily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Liz Peña. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a pair of chopsticks."
"When pigs fly," Shawn responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a laugh. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."