René woke up with a clenched fist. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a gold medal and a pair of trousers. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the lounge was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-five of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like poker and pool. His dad was planning to make plenty of ice cream and fried chicken for everyone. René would try to blow out all twenty-eight candles on the green and red cake. While the guests were eating their cake, René would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a flash drive! He hoped it would be a clean flash drive. His friend Penny had said she would give him a doll, and his mentor always gave him cool stuff like the piece of chalk she gave him last year. René could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a rainstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his gold medal. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the cornfield. He would have to wear a straitjacket instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his pair of trousers.
He ran downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a swimming pool. His dad was standing there with a foot in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a hoot.
"Hi Daddy!" René replied gingerly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ice cream," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra orange juice. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," René replied admiringly. "Do we have the fried chicken ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," his father replied diligently. "It only has to deep fry for four minutes."
"Okay," René replied neatly. "I'm gonna go to the lounge."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some bread and butter in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the lounge 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," René responded, as he sat down to his bread and butter. "Let's hang lots of golden balloons and cover the recliner and the bench with forest green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father unnaturally. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Belle Cox. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a Sham-Wow!."
"Anyhow," René responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a flinch. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."