Meg woke up with a death glare. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a lab coat and a polo shirt. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the parlor was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eleven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like red rover and battleship. Her mom was planning to make plenty of macaroni and catfish stew for everyone. Meg would try to blow out all thirteen candles on the maroon and burgundy cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Meg would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a hammer! She hoped it would be a jagged hammer. Her friend Steve had said he would give her a cookbook, and her mommy always gave her cool stuff like the iPod she gave her last year. Meg 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 lab coat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the wasteland. She would have to wear a burqa instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her polo shirt.
She trekked downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like car exhaust. Her mom was standing there with a chopstick in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a dope slap.
"Hi Mommy!" Meg replied gruffly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the macaroni," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra raisins. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Meg replied bitterly. "Do we have the catfish stew ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," her mother replied stealthily. "It only has to slow cook for seventy-one minutes."
"Okay," Meg replied unexpectedly. "I'm gonna go to the parlor."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some roast turkey in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the parlor 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," Meg responded, as she sat down to her roast turkey. "Let's hang lots of maroon balloons and cover the hamper and the rug with forest green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother steadily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Ellen Iliescu. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a grater."
"Verily," Meg responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a wink. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."