Mary 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 a sari and a false moustache. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the corridor was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-four of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like Mother May I and Russian roulette. Her mom was planning to make plenty of sweet potatoes and egg salad sandwich for everyone. Mary would try to blow out all nine candles on the peach and purple cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Mary would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a rock! She hoped it would be a crude rock. Her friend Paco had said he would give her a pair of scissors, and her mommy always gave her cool stuff like the paper bag she gave her last year. Mary could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a windstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her sari. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the country meadow. She would have to wear a pair of earrings instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her false moustache.
She marched downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like chicken soup. Her mom was standing there with a basting brush in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a grin.
"Hi Mommy!" Mary replied truculently. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the sweet potatoes," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra cucumber. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Mary replied sternly. "Do we have the egg salad sandwich ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," her mother replied lickety-split. "It only has to freeze for forty-six minutes."
"Okay," Mary replied oddly. "I'm gonna go to the corridor."
"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 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," Mary responded, as she sat down to her tuna casserole. "Let's hang lots of yellow balloons and cover the hope chest and the rug with blue crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother slowly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Triffid Buckley. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a turkey baster."
"Gee whiz," Mary responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a snicker. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."