Rutherford 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 a pair of culottes and a skeleton costume. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the servant's quarters was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-nine of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like Parcheesi and checkers. His mom was planning to make plenty of cookies and egg rolls for everyone. Rutherford would try to blow out all thirty-two candles on the peach and orange cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Rutherford would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a piece of chalk! He hoped it would be a fancy piece of chalk. His friend Dillon had said he would give him a pot, and his fiancée always gave him cool stuff like the box of candy she gave him last year. Rutherford could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a period of warm weather was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his pair of culottes. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the tundra. He would have to wear a pair of boxer shorts instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his skeleton costume.
He scampered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like caramel corn. His mom was standing there with a napkin in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a hoot.
"Hi Mommy!" Rutherford replied gently. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cookies," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra whale blubber. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Rutherford replied woefully. "Do we have the egg rolls ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," his mother replied numbly. "It only has to spoon into container for sixty-two minutes."
"Okay," Rutherford replied sleepily. "I'm gonna go to the servant's quarters."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some sauerkraut in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the servant's quarters 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," Rutherford responded, as he sat down to his sauerkraut. "Let's hang lots of polka dotted balloons and cover the dresser and the cushion with silver crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother properly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Marjorie Gentry. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a whisk."
"Phew," Rutherford responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a guffaw. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."