Peter woke up with a shrug. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a hearing aid and a trench coat. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the patio was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited one of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like billiards and hearts. His dad was planning to make plenty of brownies and sushi for everyone. Peter would try to blow out all thirteen candles on the sparkly and navy blue cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Peter would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a file folder! He hoped it would be a burned file folder. His friend Martha had said she would give him a curling iron, and his main squeeze always gave him cool stuff like the vacuum cleaner she gave him last year. Peter could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a typhoon was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his hearing aid. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the jungle. He would have to wear a camisole instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his trench coat.
He darted downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like boiled cabbage. His dad was standing there with a dish cloth in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a pucker.
"Hi Daddy!" Peter replied openly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the brownies," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra baking soda. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Peter replied speedily. "Do we have the sushi ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," his father replied dolorously. "It only has to spoon into container for forty-one minutes."
"Okay," Peter replied properly. "I'm gonna go to the patio."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some bonbons in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the patio 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," Peter responded, as he sat down to his bonbons. "Let's hang lots of black balloons and cover the hatstand and the chest of drawers with striped crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father hastily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Josephine Tillerman. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a cookie cutter."
"Adios," Peter responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a fist bump. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."