Michaelangelo woke up with a pound of the chest. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a girdle and a mask. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the cage was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like hearts and Simon Says. His mom was planning to make plenty of cherries jubilee and mulligan stew for everyone. Michaelangelo would try to blow out all twenty-six candles on the olive green and magenta cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Michaelangelo would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a bag of popcorn! He hoped it would be a rigid bag of popcorn. His friend Eddie had said he would give him a ticket, and his girlfriend always gave him cool stuff like the cookie she gave him last year. Michaelangelo could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a pall of doom was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his girdle. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the badlands area. He would have to wear a space suit instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his mask.
He flounced downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a mountain meadow. His mom was standing there with a pair of tongs in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a smirk.
"Hi Mommy!" Michaelangelo replied angrily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cherries jubilee," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra applesauce. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Michaelangelo replied sorrowfully. "Do we have the mulligan stew ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," his mother replied sagely. "It only has to refrigerate overnight for twenty-six minutes."
"Okay," Michaelangelo replied uneasily. "I'm gonna go to the cage."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some prune pudding in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the cage 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," Michaelangelo responded, as he sat down to his prune pudding. "Let's hang lots of carrot-orange balloons and cover the washstand and the nightstand with brilliant orange crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother carelessly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Meghan Merton. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a candy thermometer."
"Incredible," Michaelangelo responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a furrowed brow. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."