Herbert woke up with a pout. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a visor and a big red rose. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the hall was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited fourteen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like Monopoly and Simon Says. His dad was planning to make plenty of pancakes and pie a la mode for everyone. Herbert would try to blow out all twenty candles on the peach and white cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Herbert would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a battery! He hoped it would be an original battery. His friend Kjersten had said she would give him a pink flamingo, and his wife always gave him cool stuff like the blanket she gave him last year. Herbert could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dense fog was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his visor. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the battlefield. He would have to wear a pair of Oxfords instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his big red rose.
He trekked downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like natural gas. His dad was standing there with a chopstick in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a sniff.
"Hi Daddy!" Herbert replied hungrily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pancakes," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra nutmeg. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Herbert replied stupidly. "Do we have the pie a la mode ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," his father replied grimly. "It only has to fry firmly in rusty skillet for eighty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Herbert replied pityingly. "I'm gonna go to the hall."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some roast Cornish game hen in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the hall 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," Herbert responded, as he sat down to his roast Cornish game hen. "Let's hang lots of purple balloons and cover the chest of drawers and the workbench with brilliant orange crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father grandly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Jolene Powers. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a corkscrew."
"Ack," Herbert responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a grunt. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."