Bum woke up with a wrinkled nose. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in an armband and a pair of pantaloons. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the corridor was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eleven of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like tennis and red light green light. His dad was planning to make plenty of ham and egg salad sandwich for everyone. Bum would try to blow out all twenty-eight candles on the jet black and azure cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Bum would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a paperweight! He hoped it would be a crusty paperweight. His friend Abbie had said she would give him a chair, and his grandma always gave him cool stuff like the piggy bank she gave him last year. Bum could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a pelting rainstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his armband. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the steppe. He would have to wear a towel instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his pair of pantaloons.
He ran downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like roast turkey. His dad was standing there with a chopstick in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a snigger.
"Hi Daddy!" Bum replied pityingly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ham," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra chopped pecans. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Bum replied courteously. "Do we have the egg salad sandwich ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," his father replied gingerly. "It only has to freeze for nine minutes."
"Okay," Bum replied suspiciously. "I'm gonna go to the corridor."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some ice cream in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the corridor 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," Bum responded, as he sat down to his ice cream. "Let's hang lots of grey balloons and cover the pillow and the display case with brown crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father immediately. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Tawny Springer. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a grater."
"Grrrrr," Bum responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a blush. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."