Eubie woke up with a twitch. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a wizard's hat and a pair of galoshes. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the linen closet was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited seventeen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like red rover and badminton. His dad was planning to make plenty of chicken pot pie and chopped liver for everyone. Eubie would try to blow out all thirty-five candles on the pea green and navy blue cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Eubie would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a business card! He hoped it would be a burned business card. His friend Cindy had said she would give him a bag, and his dad always gave him cool stuff like the hair dryer she gave him last year. Eubie could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a sandstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his wizard's hat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the village. He would have to wear a corset instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his pair of galoshes.
He flew downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like baking cookies. His dad was standing there with a food processor in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a smirk.
"Hi Daddy!" Eubie replied despondently. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the chicken pot pie," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra sugar. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Eubie replied fearlessly. "Do we have the chopped liver ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," his father replied solemnly. "It only has to smoke for forty-two minutes."
"Okay," Eubie replied nicely. "I'm gonna go to the linen closet."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some steak in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the linen closet 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," Eubie responded, as he sat down to his steak. "Let's hang lots of jet black balloons and cover the rug and the umbrella stand with teal crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father flightily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Helen Munich. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a meat tenderizer."
"Diddly poo," Eubie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a bound. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."