Humphrey woke up with an air kiss. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a necktie and a gold medal. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the ballroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eight of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like Clue and Cootie. His dad was planning to make plenty of waffles and hamburgers for everyone. Humphrey would try to blow out all ten candles on the amber and magenta cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Humphrey would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a football! He hoped it would be an imported football. His friend Chloe had said she would give him a protest sign, and his grandmother always gave him cool stuff like the grease gun she gave him last year. Humphrey could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drought was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his necktie. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the jungle. He would have to wear a pair of dentures instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his gold medal.
He skipped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like gingersnaps. His dad was standing there with a spoon in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a pucker.
"Hi Daddy!" Humphrey replied thankfully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the waffles," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra lemon zest. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Humphrey replied suspiciously. "Do we have the hamburgers ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," his father replied victoriously. "It only has to refrigerate overnight for seventy-three minutes."
"Okay," Humphrey replied softly. "I'm gonna go to the ballroom."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some mulligan stew in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the ballroom 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," Humphrey responded, as he sat down to his mulligan stew. "Let's hang lots of pea green balloons and cover the armoire and the billiard table with olive drab crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father courteously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Paige Ullman. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a wooden spoon."
"Turn blue," Humphrey responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a caress. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."