Woody woke up with a sneer. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a mortarboard and a cummerbund. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the family room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited two of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like marbles and chess. His dad was planning to make plenty of dry toast and crab rangoon for everyone. Woody would try to blow out all two candles on the salmon and ivory cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Woody would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a tennis racket! He hoped it would be an electronic tennis racket. His friend Theresa had said she would give him a clam, and his dad always gave him cool stuff like the stuffed owl she gave him last year. Woody 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 mortarboard. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the cliff. He would have to wear a coat instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his cummerbund.
He reeled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like tacos. His dad was standing there with an oven mitt in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a shrug.
"Hi Daddy!" Woody replied viciously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the dry toast," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra oatmeal. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Woody replied deliberately. "Do we have the crab rangoon ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," his father replied thoughtfully. "It only has to blend for fifty-three minutes."
"Okay," Woody replied proudly. "I'm gonna go to the family room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some prime rib in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the family room 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," Woody responded, as he sat down to his prime rib. "Let's hang lots of yellow balloons and cover the file cabinet and the billiard table with striped crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father immediately. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Cecelia Washington. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a pastry blender."
"Righto," Woody responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a fist bump. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."