Harvey woke up with a wag of the finger. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a wedding dress and a bedsheet. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the servant's quarters was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-one of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like jacks and hopscotch. His mom was planning to make plenty of duck a l'orange and ice cream for everyone. Harvey would try to blow out all seventeen candles on the metallic red and hot pink cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Harvey would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an ashtray! He hoped it would be an odd ashtray. His friend Mario had said he would give him a tennis racket, and his aunt always gave him cool stuff like the houseplant she gave him last year. Harvey could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a period of warm weather was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his wedding dress. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the housing development. He would have to wear a pair of Bermuda shorts instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his bedsheet.
He sailed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like mint. His mom was standing there with a mixing spoon in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a shrug.
"Hi Mommy!" Harvey replied violently. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the duck a l'orange," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra Jello. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Harvey replied sheepishly. "Do we have the ice cream ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," his mother replied effortlessly. "It only has to smoke for twenty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Harvey replied glibly. "I'm gonna go to the servant's quarters."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some country glazed ham in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the servant's quarters 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," Harvey responded, as he sat down to his country glazed ham. "Let's hang lots of scarlet balloons and cover the piano and the hatstand with beige crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother openly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Lilya Smiley. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a knife."
"Darn," Harvey responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a bound. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."