Christian woke up with a power fist. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a set of braces and a pair of knickerbockers. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the foyer was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited thirteen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like hopscotch and dominos. His mom was planning to make plenty of prune pudding and sweet potatoes for everyone. Christian would try to blow out all fifteen candles on the camouflage and hot pink cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Christian would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a piece of paper! He hoped it would be a hand-carved piece of paper. His friend Leroy had said he would give him a fountain pen, and his grandfather always gave him cool stuff like the paper bag she gave him last year. Christian could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a thunderstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his set of braces. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the grassy knoll. He would have to wear a shawl instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his pair of knickerbockers.
He blundered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like mushrooms. His mom was standing there with a cheesecloth in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a pound of the chest.
"Hi Mommy!" Christian replied unexpectedly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the prune pudding," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra green bell peppers. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Christian replied haughtily. "Do we have the sweet potatoes ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," his mother replied viciously. "It only has to blanch for eighty-four minutes."
"Okay," Christian replied irritably. "I'm gonna go to the foyer."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some pie a la mode in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the foyer 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," Christian responded, as he sat down to his pie a la mode. "Let's hang lots of chocolate brown balloons and cover the display case and the rug with metallic red crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother courteously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Libby Childs. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a chopstick."
"Please," Christian responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a pucker. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."