Jeff woke up with a smile. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a hood and a tuxedo. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the game room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited one of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like tennis and old maid. His dad was planning to make plenty of ham and crumb cake for everyone. Jeff would try to blow out all twenty-two candles on the yellow and turquoise cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Jeff would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a piece of chalk! He hoped it would be a huge piece of chalk. His friend Hillary had said she would give him a towel, and his friend always gave him cool stuff like the abacus she gave him last year. Jeff could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a snowstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his hood. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the briar patch. He would have to wear a helmet instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his tuxedo.
He sidled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like fresh coffee. His dad was standing there with a strainer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a smirk.
"Hi Daddy!" Jeff replied vigorously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ham," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra crabmeat. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Jeff replied awkwardly. "Do we have the crumb cake ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," his father replied victoriously. "It only has to poach lightly for thirty-four minutes."
"Okay," Jeff replied quickly. "I'm gonna go to the game room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some dirty rice in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the game 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," Jeff responded, as he sat down to his dirty rice. "Let's hang lots of pink balloons and cover the floor and the TV with navy blue crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father ignobly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Bretta Kaplan. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a corkscrew."
"Big whoop," Jeff responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a face palm. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."