Warren woke up with a face palm. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a wet suit and a tattoo. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the closet 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 treasure hunt and Candy Land. His mom was planning to make plenty of scrambled eggs and chicken chow mein for everyone. Warren would try to blow out all twenty-seven candles on the ivory and purple cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Warren would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a bicycle! He hoped it would be a crisp bicycle. His friend Bub had said he would give him an arrowhead, and his grandpa always gave him cool stuff like the remote control she gave him last year. Warren 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 wet suit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the range. He would have to wear a pair of Crocs instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his tattoo.
He careened downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like fresh coffee. His mom was standing there with an egg cutter in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a grin.
"Hi Mommy!" Warren replied crankily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the scrambled eggs," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra baker's chocolate. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Warren replied courageously. "Do we have the chicken chow mein ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," his mother replied hungrily. "It only has to braise for seventy-three minutes."
"Okay," Warren replied daringly. "I'm gonna go to the closet."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some Swiss cheese in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the closet 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," Warren responded, as he sat down to his Swiss cheese. "Let's hang lots of terra cotta balloons and cover the hammock and the bathtub with olive drab crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother thankfully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Eloise Fischer. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a corkscrew."
"By all the saints at the backside door of purgatory," Warren responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a snigger. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."