Romeo woke up with a flinch. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a jogging suit and a pair of dentures. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the master bedroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited ten of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like tag and dominos. His mom was planning to make plenty of brownies and pancakes for everyone. Romeo would try to blow out all thirty-two candles on the tan and aquamarine cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Romeo would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a chart! He hoped it would be a primitive chart. His friend Draco had said he would give him a cardboard box, and his fiancée always gave him cool stuff like the cage she gave him last year. Romeo could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a downpour was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his jogging suit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the lagoon. He would have to wear a fig leaf instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his pair of dentures.
He danced downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like hot cocoa. His mom was standing there with a pair of chopsticks in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a wink.
"Hi Mommy!" Romeo replied solemnly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the brownies," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra apple slices. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Romeo replied dubiously. "Do we have the pancakes ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," his mother replied ignobly. "It only has to refrigerate overnight for twelve minutes."
"Okay," Romeo replied proudly. "I'm gonna go to the master bedroom."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some fried chicken in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the master bedroom 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," Romeo responded, as he sat down to his fried chicken. "Let's hang lots of yellow balloons and cover the recliner and the bookcase with carrot-orange crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother boldly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Tess Austin. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a spoon."
"Tailfeathers," Romeo responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a glare. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."