Cameron woke up with a wrinkled nose. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a wet suit and a bow tie. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the pool room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eleven of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like Parcheesi and Mother May I. His mom was planning to make plenty of cornbread and brownies for everyone. Cameron would try to blow out all seven candles on the fuchsia and aqua cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Cameron would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an ingot of plutonium! He hoped it would be a polka-dotted ingot of plutonium. His friend Rodney had said he would give him a teacup, and his dad always gave him cool stuff like the tube of glue she gave him last year. Cameron could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dense fog was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his wet suit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the moonscape. He would have to wear a pair of cowboy boots instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his bow tie.
He bounced downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like perfume. His mom was standing there with a turkey baster in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a fist bump.
"Hi Mommy!" Cameron replied dubiously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cornbread," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra avocado. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Cameron replied queerly. "Do we have the brownies ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," his mother replied properly. "It only has to allow to rise in warm place for several hours for seventy-one minutes."
"Okay," Cameron replied bitterly. "I'm gonna go to the pool room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some lobster bisque in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the pool 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," Cameron responded, as he sat down to his lobster bisque. "Let's hang lots of yellow balloons and cover the stairway and the stairway with red crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother dubiously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Gina Van Heusen. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a potato peeler."
"Gee whillikers," Cameron responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a pout. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."