Morgan woke up with a hug. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a skeleton costume and a baseball cap. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the nursery was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eighteen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like rummy and marbles. His mom was planning to make plenty of ravioli and fish and chips for everyone. Morgan would try to blow out all twelve candles on the beige and brown cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Morgan would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a flag! He hoped it would be a fluffy flag. His friend Ethan had said he would give him a trash can, and his friend always gave him cool stuff like the tote bag she gave him last year. Morgan could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dust storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his skeleton costume. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the neighborhood. He would have to wear a pair of ear muffs instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his baseball cap.
He ambled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like coffee. His mom was standing there with a fork in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a pound of the chest.
"Hi Mommy!" Morgan replied boisterously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ravioli," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra onion powder. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Morgan replied sadly. "Do we have the fish and chips ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," his mother replied accidentally. "It only has to smoke for seventy minutes."
"Okay," Morgan replied calmly. "I'm gonna go to the nursery."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some beef bouillon in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the nursery 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," Morgan responded, as he sat down to his beef bouillon. "Let's hang lots of scarlet balloons and cover the mattress and the washing machine with turquoise crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother softly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Jasmine Tinnerman. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a ladle."
"Sheesh," Morgan responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a coo. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."