Newton woke up with a face palm. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a pair of Oxfords and a floppy hat. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the nursery was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-three of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like Russian roulette and checkers. His mom was planning to make plenty of mushroom quiche and roast Cornish game hen for everyone. Newton would try to blow out all sixteen candles on the purple and sea green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Newton would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a church key! He hoped it would be a wet church key. His friend Howard had said he would give him a deck of cards, and his sister always gave him cool stuff like the deck of cards she gave him last year. Newton could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that an earthquake was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his pair of Oxfords. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the marsh. He would have to wear a pair of jeans instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his floppy hat.
He cantered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like something died. His mom was standing there with a cookie cutter in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a cackle.
"Hi Mommy!" Newton replied majestically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the mushroom quiche," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra active dry yeast. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Newton replied greedily. "Do we have the roast Cornish game hen ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," his mother replied sympathetically. "It only has to sear for eighty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Newton replied tensely. "I'm gonna go to the nursery."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some lime sherbet in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the nursery 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," Newton responded, as he sat down to his lime sherbet. "Let's hang lots of silver balloons and cover the windowsill and the crib with metallic red crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother accidentally. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Rachel Shipman. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a turkey baster."
"Shoo," Newton 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."