John Paul woke up with a smack. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a bonnet and a poncho. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the atrium was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-nine of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like jump rope and Russian roulette. His dad was planning to make plenty of fried chicken and prime rib for everyone. John Paul would try to blow out all thirty-five candles on the teal and polka dotted cake. While the guests were eating their cake, John Paul would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a football! He hoped it would be a prickly football. His friend Madalyn had said she would give him a napkin, and his grandpa always gave him cool stuff like the fishing pole she gave him last year. John Paul could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drought was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his bonnet. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the butte. He would have to wear a pair of dungarees instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his poncho.
He marched downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like baking cookies. His dad was standing there with an electric paint mixer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a shrug.
"Hi Daddy!" John Paul replied blankly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the fried chicken," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra beer. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," John Paul replied gracefully. "Do we have the prime rib ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," his father replied happily. "It only has to place on serving dish for thirty-eight minutes."
"Okay," John Paul replied numbly. "I'm gonna go to the atrium."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some cookies in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the atrium 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," John Paul responded, as he sat down to his cookies. "Let's hang lots of lime-green balloons and cover the filing cabinet and the hope chest with forest green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father mysteriously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Michelle Rudnick. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an electric paint mixer."
"Now what?," John Paul responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a sniff. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."