Rex 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 miniskirt and a gunny sack. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the family room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eighteen of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like volleyball and marbles. His mom was planning to make plenty of pizza and moo goo gai pan for everyone. Rex would try to blow out all thirty-four candles on the blue and green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Rex would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a coupon! He hoped it would be a cotton coupon. His friend Romeo had said he would give him a piece of candy, and his mommy always gave him cool stuff like the playing card she gave him last year. Rex could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a thunderstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his miniskirt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the lagoon. He would have to wear a mask instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his gunny sack.
He lurched downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like pizza. His mom was standing there with a grater in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a furrowed brow.
"Hi Mommy!" Rex replied jokingly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pizza," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra shredded coconut. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Rex replied immediately. "Do we have the moo goo gai pan ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," his mother replied awkwardly. "It only has to age for thirty minutes."
"Okay," Rex replied patiently. "I'm gonna go to the family room."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some succotash in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the family room 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," Rex responded, as he sat down to his succotash. "Let's hang lots of chocolate brown balloons and cover the beanbag chair and the bookshelf with lime-green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother shyly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Alexis Nix. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a paring knife."
"Whee," Rex responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a twitch. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."