Elena woke up with a blush. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a set of football pads and a gold medal. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the closet was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited seven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like Scrabble and tennis. Her mom was planning to make plenty of prime rib and roast turkey for everyone. Elena would try to blow out all twenty-one candles on the pea green and lavender cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Elena would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a bucket! She hoped it would be a decrepit bucket. Her friend Brent had said he would give her a backpack, and her grandmother always gave her cool stuff like the bird bath she gave her last year. Elena could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a thunderstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her set of football pads. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the stream. She would have to wear a pair of trousers instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her gold medal.
She slid downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like pipe tobacco. Her mom was standing there with a pair of chopsticks in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a coo.
"Hi Mommy!" Elena replied lamely. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the prime rib," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra soy sauce. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Elena replied accidentally. "Do we have the roast turkey ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," her mother replied gratefully. "It only has to fry for thirty-three minutes."
"Okay," Elena replied warily. "I'm gonna go to the closet."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some clam chowder in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the closet first?" she begged.
"It looks just like it always does," her mother replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Elena responded, as she sat down to her clam chowder. "Let's hang lots of tan balloons and cover the cash register and the overstuffed chair with silver crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother irritably. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Bonita Jacobsen. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a ladle."
"Gesundheit," Elena responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a furrowed brow. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."