White Cloud woke up with an evil eye. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a cloak and a gun belt. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the garage was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eight of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like red rover and volleyball. His dad was planning to make plenty of tortillas and pancakes for everyone. White Cloud would try to blow out all twenty-four candles on the red and chartreuse cake. While the guests were eating their cake, White Cloud would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a photograph! He hoped it would be a small photograph. His friend Alice had said she would give him a saw, and his mother-in-law always gave him cool stuff like the coloring book she gave him last year. White Cloud could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a driving rain was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his cloak. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the dumpster. He would have to wear a Hawaiian shirt instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his gun belt.
He flounced downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a swamp. His dad was standing there with a chopstick in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a jeer.
"Hi Daddy!" White Cloud replied lazily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the tortillas," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra watercress. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," White Cloud replied truculently. "Do we have the pancakes ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," his father replied boisterously. "It only has to slow cook for sixty-four minutes."
"Okay," White Cloud replied gratefully. "I'm gonna go to the garage."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some pizza in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the garage 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," White Cloud responded, as he sat down to his pizza. "Let's hang lots of sparkly balloons and cover the bathtub and the umbrella stand with navy blue crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father later. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Sandi Koch. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a foot."
"Just a minute," White Cloud responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a titter. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."