Justin woke up with a bound. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a belly button jewel and a scarf. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the parlor was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-six of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like charades and old maid. His dad was planning to make plenty of roast Cornish game hen and egg salad sandwich for everyone. Justin would try to blow out all sixteen candles on the ivory and maroon cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Justin would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a camera! He hoped it would be a cardboard camera. His friend Anita had said she would give him a garbage can, and his grandmother always gave him cool stuff like the muffin she gave him last year. Justin could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a flood was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his belly button jewel. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the gulch. He would have to wear a pair of glasses instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his scarf.
He skidded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like rotten fish. His dad was standing there with a Sham-Wow! in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a pout.
"Hi Daddy!" Justin replied hysterically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the roast Cornish game hen," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra turkey. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Justin replied crazily. "Do we have the egg salad sandwich ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," his father replied steadily. "It only has to sear for four minutes."
"Okay," Justin replied nimbly. "I'm gonna go to the parlor."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some tortillas in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the parlor 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," Justin responded, as he sat down to his tortillas. "Let's hang lots of magenta balloons and cover the china cabinet and the futon with white crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father languidly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Lori MacKenzie. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a sharp knife."
"Blah," Justin responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a wag of the finger. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."