Clara woke up with a furrowed brow. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a nightgown and a vest. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the salon was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited fourteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like Candy Land and croquet. Her mom was planning to make plenty of pot roast and crab rangoon for everyone. Clara would try to blow out all twenty-eight candles on the navy blue and jade cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Clara would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a padlock! She hoped it would be a disgusting padlock. Her friend Kenneth had said he would give her a billiard ball, and her fiancée always gave her cool stuff like the radio she gave her last year. Clara could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hurricane was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her nightgown. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the pasture. She would have to wear a tinfoil hat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her vest.
She marched downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like potpourri. Her mom was standing there with an ice pick in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a crow.
"Hi Mommy!" Clara replied suddenly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pot roast," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra Cheerios. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Clara replied openly. "Do we have the crab rangoon ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," her mother replied immediately. "It only has to deep fry for forty-five minutes."
"Okay," Clara replied suspiciously. "I'm gonna go to the salon."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some doughnuts in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the salon 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," Clara responded, as she sat down to her doughnuts. "Let's hang lots of magenta balloons and cover the fainting couch and the beanbag chair with ivory crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother sternly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Elvira van Veen. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a napkin."
"Can it," Clara responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a frown. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."