Beatrice woke up with a growl. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a smartwatch and a moustache. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the nursery was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited ten of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like hopscotch and treasure hunt. Her mom was planning to make plenty of succotash and ramen noodles for everyone. Beatrice would try to blow out all twenty-nine candles on the grey and periwinkle cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Beatrice would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a stone! She hoped it would be a brightly-colored stone. Her friend Horst had said he would give her a roll of duct tape, and her fiancée always gave her cool stuff like the pipe she gave her last year. Beatrice could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a typhoon was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her smartwatch. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the butte. She would have to wear a suit of armor instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her moustache.
She stormed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like peppermint. Her mom was standing there with a piece of cheesecloth in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a flinch.
"Hi Mommy!" Beatrice replied urgently. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the succotash," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra potato chips. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Beatrice replied nervously. "Do we have the ramen noodles ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," her mother replied suddenly. "It only has to boil for forty minutes."
"Okay," Beatrice replied dubiously. "I'm gonna go to the nursery."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some lobster bisque in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the nursery 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," Beatrice responded, as she sat down to her lobster bisque. "Let's hang lots of camouflage balloons and cover the bathtub and the wardrobe with tan crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother sheepishly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Fran Sitting Bird. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a meat thermometer."
"Uh-huh," Beatrice responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a coo. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."