Bones woke up with a shout. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in an evening gown and a pair of ear muffs. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the parlor was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twelve of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like Parcheesi and Scrabble. His dad was planning to make plenty of burritos and cabbage for everyone. Bones would try to blow out all nine candles on the striped and forest green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Bones would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a dog collar! He hoped it would be a rigid dog collar. His friend Bev had said she would give him a feather duster, and his sister-in-law always gave him cool stuff like the soccer ball she gave him last year. Bones could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a rainbow was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his evening gown. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the cliff. He would have to wear a necklace instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his pair of ear muffs.
He crawled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like licorice. His dad was standing there with a wooden spoon in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a smack.
"Hi Daddy!" Bones replied positively. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the burritos," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra red lentils. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Bones replied joyously. "Do we have the cabbage ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," his father replied gingerly. "It only has to deep fry for eighty-six minutes."
"Okay," Bones replied wearily. "I'm gonna go to the parlor."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some cherries jubilee in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the parlor 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," Bones responded, as he sat down to his cherries jubilee. "Let's hang lots of magenta balloons and cover the water bed and the beanbag chair with jet black crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father threateningly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Brittany Sims. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a napkin."
"Pish posh," Bones 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."