Rufus woke up with a wrinkled nose. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a thong and a Speedo. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the closet was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-six of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like crazy eights and dodge ball. His mom was planning to make plenty of pancakes and ceviche for everyone. Rufus would try to blow out all seven candles on the yellow and forest green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Rufus would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a tube of glue! He hoped it would be a delicate tube of glue. His friend Lauren had said he would give him an abacus, and his wife always gave him cool stuff like the telephone she gave him last year. Rufus could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a rainbow was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his thong. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the desert. He would have to wear a jerkin instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his Speedo.
He sneaked downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like roses. His mom was standing there with an egg cutter in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a finger gun.
"Hi Mommy!" Rufus replied positively. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pancakes," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra strawberries. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Rufus replied ferociously. "Do we have the ceviche ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," his mother replied admiringly. "It only has to grill for eleven minutes."
"Okay," Rufus replied crossly. "I'm gonna go to the closet."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some roast Cornish game hen in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the closet 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," Rufus responded, as he sat down to his roast Cornish game hen. "Let's hang lots of olive green balloons and cover the mattress and the settee with navy blue crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother repeatedly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Elinor Dipko. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a knife."
"Aaah," Rufus responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a smile. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."