Elmer 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 bowler hat and a loincloth. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the bedroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eighteen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like Cootie and marbles. His dad was planning to make plenty of macaroni and cheese and country glazed ham for everyone. Elmer would try to blow out all five candles on the rose and yellow cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Elmer would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a top! He hoped it would be a large top. His friend Velma had said she would give him a crystal ball, and his dad always gave him cool stuff like the stapler she gave him last year. Elmer could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a tornado was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his bowler hat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the trail. He would have to wear a coat instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his loincloth.
He sidled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like biscuits. His dad was standing there with a foot in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a wag of the finger.
"Hi Daddy!" Elmer replied noisily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the macaroni and cheese," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra powdered milk. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Elmer replied nicely. "Do we have the country glazed ham ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," his father replied thankfully. "It only has to smoke for thirty-two minutes."
"Okay," Elmer replied briskly. "I'm gonna go to the bedroom."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some Swiss cheese in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the bedroom 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," Elmer responded, as he sat down to his Swiss cheese. "Let's hang lots of orange balloons and cover the fainting couch and the recliner with brown crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father strangely. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Amanda McCracken. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a ladle."
"Ay chihuahua," Elmer responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a flush. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."