Steven woke up with a laugh. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a nose ring and a skeleton costume. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the boiler room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited ten of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like old maid and tennis. His dad was planning to make plenty of Cheerios and mulligan stew for everyone. Steven would try to blow out all twenty-one candles on the golden and white cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Steven would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a curling iron! He hoped it would be an unusual curling iron. His friend Lilya had said she would give him a pair of binoculars, and his grandmother always gave him cool stuff like the roll of duct tape she gave him last year. Steven 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 nose ring. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the briar patch. He would have to wear a bodysuit instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his skeleton costume.
He capered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like lemons. His dad was standing there with a whisk in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a hoot.
"Hi Daddy!" Steven replied diligently. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the Cheerios," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra lima beans. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Steven replied numbly. "Do we have the mulligan stew ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," his father replied craftily. "It only has to whirl for forty-four minutes."
"Okay," Steven replied crankily. "I'm gonna go to the boiler room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some pot roast in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the boiler room 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," Steven responded, as he sat down to his pot roast. "Let's hang lots of blue balloons and cover the pool table and the carpet with sparkly crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father patiently. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Alison Kaplan. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a pastry blender."
"Of course," Steven responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a chuckle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."