Tess woke up with a kiss. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of khakis and a cardigan. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the billiard room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eighteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like Snakes and Ladders and Scrabble. Her mom was planning to make plenty of cinnamon toast and pancakes for everyone. Tess would try to blow out all twenty candles on the red and khaki cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Tess would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a teapot! She hoped it would be a stolen teapot. Her friend Stephen had said he would give her a fork, and her main squeeze always gave her cool stuff like the key ring she gave her last year. Tess could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a flood was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pair of khakis. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the backyard. She would have to wear a tinfoil hat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her cardigan.
She crawled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like gingerbread. Her mom was standing there with a spatula in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a death glare.
"Hi Mommy!" Tess replied humbly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cinnamon toast," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra ham. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Tess replied swiftly. "Do we have the pancakes ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," her mother replied innocently. "It only has to whirl for twenty minutes."
"Okay," Tess replied suspiciously. "I'm gonna go to the billiard room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some shrimp in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the billiard room 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," Tess responded, as she sat down to her shrimp. "Let's hang lots of metallic red balloons and cover the four-poster bed and the pool table with chartreuse crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother firmly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Harriet Vogel. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an egg cutter."
"For heaven's sake," Tess responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a smile. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."