Quentin woke up with a belly laugh. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a bathrobe and a pair of dungarees. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the guest room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twelve of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like pool and treasure hunt. His mom was planning to make plenty of Cheerios and lobster bisque for everyone. Quentin would try to blow out all four candles on the camouflage and periwinkle cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Quentin would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a statue! He hoped it would be a soft statue. His friend Babyface had said he would give him a chart, and his mentor always gave him cool stuff like the vacuum cleaner she gave him last year. Quentin could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a rainstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his bathrobe. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the outback. He would have to wear a pair of moon boots instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his pair of dungarees.
He traipsed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like grapefruit. His mom was standing there with a wooden spoon in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a raspberry.
"Hi Mommy!" Quentin replied sagely. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the Cheerios," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra sauerkraut. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Quentin replied wildly. "Do we have the lobster bisque ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," his mother replied admiringly. "It only has to grill for forty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Quentin replied openly. "I'm gonna go to the guest room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some cornbread in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the guest 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," Quentin responded, as he sat down to his cornbread. "Let's hang lots of crimson balloons and cover the futon and the china hutch with hot pink crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother roughly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Jenny Vanderbilt. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a cookie cutter."
"Boo," Quentin responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a squint. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."