Frank woke up with a squint. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a beach towel and a pair of safety glasses. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the library was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like Candy Land and bridge. His mom was planning to make plenty of prune pudding and pie a la mode for everyone. Frank would try to blow out all seventeen candles on the sparkly and carrot-orange cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Frank would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a cork! He hoped it would be a queer cork. His friend Mitch had said he would give him a bag of popcorn, and his fiancée always gave him cool stuff like the pair of headphones she gave him last year. Frank could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a typhoon was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his beach towel. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the wasteland. He would have to wear a stethoscope instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his pair of safety glasses.
He inched downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like liver and onions. His mom was standing there with a candy thermometer in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a wink.
"Hi Mommy!" Frank replied softly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the prune pudding," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra ground pork. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Frank replied grandly. "Do we have the pie a la mode ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," his mother replied proudly. "It only has to press for fifty-one minutes."
"Okay," Frank replied sweetly. "I'm gonna go to the library."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some mushroom quiche in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the library 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," Frank responded, as he sat down to his mushroom quiche. "Let's hang lots of aquamarine balloons and cover the overstuffed chair and the four-poster bed with ivory crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother coldly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Meghan Wicker. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a food processor."
"Ultimate," Frank responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a curtsey. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."