Aaron woke up with a furrowed brow. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a sweatshirt and a pair of tights. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the atrium was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited thirteen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like chess and shuffleboard. His dad was planning to make plenty of brownies and catfish stew for everyone. Aaron would try to blow out all four candles on the pea green and aqua cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Aaron would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an iPod! He hoped it would be an ancient iPod. His friend Frances had said she would give him a box of Kleenex, and his wife always gave him cool stuff like the can of beer she gave him last year. Aaron could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a blanket of mist was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his sweatshirt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the gully. He would have to wear a G-string instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his pair of tights.
He jumped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like hot cocoa. His dad was standing there with a blender in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a sneeze.
"Hi Daddy!" Aaron replied menacingly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the brownies," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra rice noodles. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Aaron replied crossly. "Do we have the catfish stew ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," his father replied frenetically. "It only has to whirl for thirty-six minutes."
"Okay," Aaron replied fearfully. "I'm gonna go to the atrium."
"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 atrium 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," Aaron responded, as he sat down to his roast Cornish game hen. "Let's hang lots of teal balloons and cover the nightstand and the billiard table with azure crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father rapidly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Beverly Flash. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a corkscrew."
"Bilge," Aaron responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a snicker. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."