Russell woke up with a bound. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a false beard and a robe. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the front porch was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eight of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like pool and Monopoly. His dad was planning to make plenty of egg rolls and chicken chow mein for everyone. Russell would try to blow out all nine candles on the maroon and pink cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Russell would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a cotton ball! He hoped it would be a used cotton ball. His friend Cassandra had said she would give him a corsage, and his mom always gave him cool stuff like the flyswatter she gave him last year. Russell could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that an earthquake was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his false beard. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the outback. He would have to wear a sombrero instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his robe.
He breezed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like leather. His dad was standing there with a food processor in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a furrowed brow.
"Hi Daddy!" Russell replied bitterly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the egg rolls," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra salsa. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Russell replied sleepily. "Do we have the chicken chow mein ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," his father replied neatly. "It only has to braise for forty minutes."
"Okay," Russell replied greedily. "I'm gonna go to the front porch."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some chicken gumbo in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the front porch 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," Russell responded, as he sat down to his chicken gumbo. "Let's hang lots of black balloons and cover the hope chest and the carpet with lime-green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father primly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Doris Hanson. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a dull knife."
"Very funny," Russell responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a raspberry. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."