Constance woke up with a smirk. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in an earring and a mortarboard. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the rec room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited two of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like chess and dominos. Her mom was planning to make plenty of smoked salmon and borscht for everyone. Constance would try to blow out all seventeen candles on the black and maroon cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Constance would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a clam! She hoped it would be a grubby clam. Her friend Gilmo had said he would give her a needle and thread, and her mentor always gave her cool stuff like the fish bowl she gave her last year. Constance could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a thunderstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her earring. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the outback. She would have to wear a locket instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her mortarboard.
She jogged downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like rubbing alcohol. Her mom was standing there with a melon baller in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a hoot.
"Hi Mommy!" Constance replied testily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the smoked salmon," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra green chiles. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Constance replied steadily. "Do we have the borscht ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," her mother replied fiercely. "It only has to age for three minutes."
"Okay," Constance replied viciously. "I'm gonna go to the rec room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some bonbons in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the rec 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," Constance responded, as she sat down to her bonbons. "Let's hang lots of mauve balloons and cover the display case and the TV with brilliant orange crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother menacingly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, May Roberts. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an electric mixer."
"Begad," Constance responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a caress. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."