Carla woke up with a glare. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a cat suit and a jumpsuit. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the dungeon was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eleven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like croquet and Mother May I. Her mom was planning to make plenty of cotton candy and scrambled eggs for everyone. Carla would try to blow out all thirty-one candles on the periwinkle and chartreuse cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Carla would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a toilet plunger! She hoped it would be a primitive toilet plunger. Her friend Woody had said he would give her a radio, and her friend always gave her cool stuff like the teapot she gave her last year. Carla could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dust storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her cat suit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the beach. She would have to wear a pair of shin guards instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her jumpsuit.
She sneaked downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like meatloaf. Her mom was standing there with a potato masher in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a jeer.
"Hi Mommy!" Carla replied suavely. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cotton candy," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra garlic powder. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Carla replied lickety-split. "Do we have the scrambled eggs ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," her mother replied fearlessly. "It only has to roast for eighteen minutes."
"Okay," Carla replied repeatedly. "I'm gonna go to the dungeon."
"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 dungeon 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," Carla responded, as she sat down to her tuna casserole. "Let's hang lots of brown balloons and cover the table and the footstool with aquamarine crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother again. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Tamara Kettle. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a knife."
"Alrighty," Carla responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a cringe. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."