Lindy 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 coat and a surgical mask. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the auditorium was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eleven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like roulette and golf. Her mom was planning to make plenty of roast turkey and doughnuts for everyone. Lindy would try to blow out all twenty candles on the aquamarine and blue cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Lindy would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a rope! She hoped it would be a ragged rope. Her friend Manny had said he would give her a remote control, and her sister-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the clarinet she gave her last year. Lindy could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a thunderstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her coat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the meadow. She would have to wear a wig instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her surgical mask.
She pranced downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a wet dog. Her mom was standing there with a corkscrew in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a tear.
"Hi Mommy!" Lindy replied needlessly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the roast turkey," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra sardines. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Lindy replied ingeniously. "Do we have the doughnuts ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her mother replied zestily. "It only has to scramble for sixty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Lindy replied cheerfully. "I'm gonna go to the auditorium."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some pretzels in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the auditorium 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," Lindy responded, as she sat down to her pretzels. "Let's hang lots of grey balloons and cover the coat rack and the hatstand with purple crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother crankily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Elena Glover. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a dull knife."
"What the devil," Lindy responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a clenched fist. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."