Blake woke up with a cackle. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a pair of booties and a garland. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the corridor was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-three of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like red rover and ring around the rosie. His dad was planning to make plenty of ice cream and squash blossom soup for everyone. Blake would try to blow out all eight candles on the metallic red and lime-green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Blake would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a bag of popcorn! He hoped it would be a mechanical bag of popcorn. His friend Nellie had said she would give him a whoopee cushion, and his main squeeze always gave him cool stuff like the cream puff she gave him last year. Blake could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a blanket of mist was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his pair of booties. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the circus tent. He would have to wear a pair of jackboots instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his garland.
He proceeded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like chocolate. His dad was standing there with a meat thermometer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a curtsey.
"Hi Daddy!" Blake replied lovingly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ice cream," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra pomegranate juice. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Blake replied sarcastically. "Do we have the squash blossom soup ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," his father replied properly. "It only has to grill for forty-four minutes."
"Okay," Blake replied valiantly. "I'm gonna go to the corridor."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some steak in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the corridor 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," Blake responded, as he sat down to his steak. "Let's hang lots of amber balloons and cover the nightstand and the pool table with metallic red crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father surreptitiously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Mia Cradduck. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a spoon."
"Ha-ha," Blake responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a beam. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."