Baldwin woke up with a hoot. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a cummerbund and a vest. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the master bedroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited nine of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like hide and seek and Cootie. His mom was planning to make plenty of strawberry shortcake and beef bouillon for everyone. Baldwin would try to blow out all two candles on the tan and aqua cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Baldwin would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a sack! He hoped it would be a hand-carved sack. His friend Alex had said he would give him a stone, and his main squeeze always gave him cool stuff like the stack of papers she gave him last year. Baldwin could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hailstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his cummerbund. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the treetop. He would have to wear a bow tie instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his vest.
He capered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Elizabeth Arden. His mom was standing there with an egg cutter in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a hoot.
"Hi Mommy!" Baldwin replied sourly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the strawberry shortcake," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra onion. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Baldwin replied doubtfully. "Do we have the beef bouillon ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," his mother replied temperamentally. "It only has to smoke for sixty-two minutes."
"Okay," Baldwin replied sadly. "I'm gonna go to the master bedroom."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some Cheerios 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," Baldwin responded, as he sat down to his Cheerios. "Let's hang lots of pink balloons and cover the water bed and the hope chest with blue crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother courageously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Penny Sorensen. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a garlic press."
"Verily," Baldwin responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a flinch. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."