Alison woke up with a grunt. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a nightgown and a visor. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the study was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like Candy Land and doctor. Her mom was planning to make plenty of prune pudding and succotash for everyone. Alison would try to blow out all eleven candles on the jade and burgundy cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Alison would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a bedpan! She hoped it would be a valuable bedpan. Her friend Roscoe had said he would give her a fishing pole, and her main squeeze always gave her cool stuff like the magazine she gave her last year. Alison could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a gale was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her nightgown. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the dump. She would have to wear a pacifier instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her visor.
She jogged downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like hot cocoa. Her mom was standing there with a cookie cutter in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a sniff.
"Hi Mommy!" Alison replied strictly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the prune pudding," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra white beans. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Alison replied steadily. "Do we have the succotash ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her mother replied gratefully. "It only has to fry for ten minutes."
"Okay," Alison replied numbly. "I'm gonna go to the study."
"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 study 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," Alison responded, as she sat down to her mulligan stew. "Let's hang lots of burgundy balloons and cover the chest of drawers and the washstand with aquamarine crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother ingeniously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Tabitha Kaplan. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a potato peeler."
"Ack," Alison 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."