Nickolas woke up with a pout. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a bow tie and a rain coat. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the bedroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-seven of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like marbles and seven-up. His dad was planning to make plenty of roast Cornish game hen and bread and butter for everyone. Nickolas would try to blow out all thirty candles on the aqua and carrot-orange cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Nickolas would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pizza! He hoped it would be a worn pizza. His friend Eloise had said she would give him a bag of potato chips, and his grandfather always gave him cool stuff like the duffel bag she gave him last year. Nickolas could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a lightning storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his bow tie. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the mesa. He would have to wear a pair of earrings instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his rain coat.
He skittered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like cheap cologne. His dad was standing there with a wooden spoon in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a titter.
"Hi Daddy!" Nickolas replied dolefully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the roast Cornish game hen," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra molasses. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Nickolas replied smoothly. "Do we have the bread and butter ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," his father replied anxiously. "It only has to boil for thirty-eight minutes."
"Okay," Nickolas replied lazily. "I'm gonna go to the bedroom."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some oyster on the half-shell in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the bedroom 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," Nickolas responded, as he sat down to his oyster on the half-shell. "Let's hang lots of silver balloons and cover the counter and the filing cabinet with purple crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father fondly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Carmen Gilson. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a food processor."
"Zounds," Nickolas responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a belch. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."