Claire woke up with a dope slap. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a hearing aid and a gold medal. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the billiard room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-five of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like Snakes and Ladders and old maid. Her mom was planning to make plenty of waffles and lasagna for everyone. Claire would try to blow out all fifteen candles on the polka dotted and camouflage cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Claire would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pink flamingo! She hoped it would be a cotton pink flamingo. Her friend Jacob had said he would give her a cardboard box, and her wife always gave her cool stuff like the doll she gave her last year. Claire could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hailstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her hearing aid. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the stream. She would have to wear a tattoo instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her gold medal.
She swung downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like fresh-baked bread. Her mom was standing there with a dull knife in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a power fist.
"Hi Mommy!" Claire replied thoughtfully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the waffles," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra powdered milk. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Claire replied noisily. "Do we have the lasagna ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," her mother replied ignobly. "It only has to broil for ten minutes."
"Okay," Claire replied stupidly. "I'm gonna go to the billiard room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some hamburgers 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," Claire responded, as she sat down to her hamburgers. "Let's hang lots of aqua balloons and cover the safe and the nightstand with striped crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother crazily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Tess Zaborowski. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a napkin."
"No way," Claire 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."