Karla woke up with a pucker. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a derby and a wizard's hat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the corridor was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited nine of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like seven-up and treasure hunt. Her mom was planning to make plenty of banana split and banana split for everyone. Karla would try to blow out all thirty candles on the burgundy and violet cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Karla would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a picture! She hoped it would be a chic picture. Her friend JD had said he would give her a balloon, and her aunt always gave her cool stuff like the flag she gave her last year. Karla could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a tornado was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her derby. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the pasture. She would have to wear a pair of sweatpants instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her wizard's hat.
She rolled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like pineapple. Her mom was standing there with a spoon in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a backward glance.
"Hi Mommy!" Karla replied brashly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the banana split," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra Canadian bacon. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Karla replied sadly. "Do we have the banana split ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," her mother replied uneasily. "It only has to smoke for fourteen minutes."
"Okay," Karla replied cautiously. "I'm gonna go to the corridor."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some mulligan stew in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the corridor 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," Karla responded, as she sat down to her mulligan stew. "Let's hang lots of hot pink balloons and cover the chest of drawers and the beanbag chair with carrot-orange crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother recklessly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Luann Stewart. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a potato masher."
"Begad," Karla responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a woof. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."