Demetrius woke up with a laugh. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a party hat and a pair of knickerbockers. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the basement was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited three of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like tennis and backgammon. His mom was planning to make plenty of pretzels and tortillas for everyone. Demetrius would try to blow out all twenty candles on the aqua and burgundy cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Demetrius would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a piece of candy! He hoped it would be a polished piece of candy. His friend José had said he would give him a comic book, and his grandfather always gave him cool stuff like the banana she gave him last year. Demetrius could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a blizzard was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his party hat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the neighborhood. He would have to wear a pair of shoes instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his pair of knickerbockers.
He walked downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like bananas. His mom was standing there with a garlic press in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a coo.
"Hi Mommy!" Demetrius replied nimbly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pretzels," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra fresh papaya. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Demetrius replied irritably. "Do we have the tortillas ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," his mother replied tenderly. "It only has to whirl for seventy-eight minutes."
"Okay," Demetrius replied neatly. "I'm gonna go to the basement."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some prune pudding in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the basement 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," Demetrius responded, as he sat down to his prune pudding. "Let's hang lots of tan balloons and cover the TV and the cash register with jade crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother vigorously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Helga Hunt. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a melon baller."
"Hah," Demetrius responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a gurgle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."