Chloe woke up with a fist bump. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a cap and a bridal gown. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the billiard room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like jacks and chess. Her mom was planning to make plenty of chicken chow mein and fried eggs for everyone. Chloe would try to blow out all thirty-five candles on the hot pink and jade cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Chloe would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a billfold! She hoped it would be a gross billfold. Her friend Gus had said he would give her a yo-yo, and her dad always gave her cool stuff like the chart she gave her last year. Chloe could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a lightning storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her cap. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the gully. She would have to wear a fur coat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her bridal gown.
She galloped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like plastic. Her mom was standing there with a turkey baster in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a finger gun.
"Hi Mommy!" Chloe replied frantically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the chicken chow mein," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra heavy cream. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Chloe replied blankly. "Do we have the fried eggs ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," her mother replied proudly. "It only has to deep fry for sixty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Chloe replied gracefully. "I'm gonna go to the billiard room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some tuna casserole 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," Chloe responded, as she sat down to her tuna casserole. "Let's hang lots of indigo balloons and cover the coat rack and the rug with navy blue crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother impatiently. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, May Castaneda. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a spoon."
"Jeepers creepers," Chloe responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a shrug. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."