Desmond woke up with a smirk. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a babushka and a headscarf. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the master bedroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-one of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like roulette and Clue. His mom was planning to make plenty of duck a l'orange and ice cream for everyone. Desmond would try to blow out all seventeen candles on the jet black and peach cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Desmond would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a salt shaker! He hoped it would be a damaged salt shaker. His friend Rico had said he would give him a dictionary, and his grandfather always gave him cool stuff like the suitcase she gave him last year. Desmond could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a bit of precipitation was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his babushka. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the mountain. He would have to wear a headscarf instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his headscarf.
He barrelled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a wet dog. His mom was standing there with a knife in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a beam.
"Hi Mommy!" Desmond replied sheepishly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the duck a l'orange," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra ground lamb. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Desmond replied fearlessly. "Do we have the ice cream ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," his mother replied craftily. "It only has to allow to rise in warm place for several hours for thirty minutes."
"Okay," Desmond replied impatiently. "I'm gonna go to the master bedroom."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some moo goo gai pan 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," Desmond responded, as he sat down to his moo goo gai pan. "Let's hang lots of lavender balloons and cover the buffet and the display case with beige crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother repeatedly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Lorie Hampton. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a chopstick."
"Encore," Desmond responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a jeer. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."