Laura 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 beret and a set of vampire fangs. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the hall was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited fifteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like red rover and red rover. Her mom was planning to make plenty of roast beef and cinnamon toast for everyone. Laura would try to blow out all twenty-seven candles on the purple and teal cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Laura would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a key ring! She hoped it would be a smumpy key ring. Her friend Ace had said he would give her a fishing rod, and her grandfather always gave her cool stuff like the bag of ice she gave her last year. Laura could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a sandstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her beret. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the battlefield. She would have to wear a camisole instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her set of vampire fangs.
She slithered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like sauerkraut. Her mom was standing there with a basting brush in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a yawn.
"Hi Mommy!" Laura replied lovingly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the roast beef," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra white rice. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Laura replied cruelly. "Do we have the cinnamon toast ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her mother replied patiently. "It only has to toast for sixty-one minutes."
"Okay," Laura replied tearfully. "I'm gonna go to the hall."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some banana split in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the hall 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," Laura responded, as she sat down to her banana split. "Let's hang lots of maroon balloons and cover the overstuffed chair and the wardrobe with metallic red crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother slyly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Kaylee Wright. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a cookie cutter."
"Blast," Laura responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a furrowed brow. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."