Ivan woke up with a honk. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a cap and a badge. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the master bedroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited seventeen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like roulette and ring around the rosie. His mom was planning to make plenty of pretzels and roast turkey for everyone. Ivan would try to blow out all thirty-three candles on the chocolate brown and aqua cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Ivan would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a hair brush! He hoped it would be an electronic hair brush. His friend Hugo had said he would give him a flash drive, and his dad always gave him cool stuff like the umbrella she gave him last year. Ivan could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dust storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his cap. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the seacoast. He would have to wear a nightgown instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his badge.
He swaggered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like aftershave lotion. His mom was standing there with a mixing spoon in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a roar.
"Hi Mommy!" Ivan replied steadily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pretzels," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra limburger cheese. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Ivan replied unexpectedly. "Do we have the roast turkey ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," his mother replied unabashedly. "It only has to braise for sixty minutes."
"Okay," Ivan replied effortlessly. "I'm gonna go to the master bedroom."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some scrambled eggs in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the master bedroom first?" he begged.
"It looks just like it always does," his mother replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Ivan responded, as he sat down to his scrambled eggs. "Let's hang lots of navy blue balloons and cover the floor and the couch with beige crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother carelessly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Erica Van Bloom. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a fork."
"Gee," Ivan responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a crow. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."