Chris woke up with a raised eyebrow. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a black belt and a business suit. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the master bedroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited fourteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like roulette and treasure hunt. Her mom was planning to make plenty of shrimp and chicken soup for everyone. Chris would try to blow out all eleven candles on the brown and camouflage cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Chris would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a yo-yo! She hoped it would be an ordinary yo-yo. Her friend Manfred had said he would give her a painting, and her fiancée always gave her cool stuff like the lemon she gave her last year. Chris could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a typhoon was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her black belt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the butte. She would have to wear a kimono instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her business suit.
She padded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like fruit. Her mom was standing there with a pastry blender in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a furrowed brow.
"Hi Mommy!" Chris replied proudly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the shrimp," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra ketchup. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Chris replied uselessly. "Do we have the chicken soup ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," her mother replied neatly. "It only has to fry for eight minutes."
"Okay," Chris replied courageously. "I'm gonna go to the master bedroom."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some French fries in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the master bedroom 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," Chris responded, as she sat down to her French fries. "Let's hang lots of lime-green balloons and cover the coffee table and the overstuffed chair with ivory crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother breathlessly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Alissa Lange. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a blender."
"Alack," Chris responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a stiff upper lip. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."