Anne woke up with a smack. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a babushka and a lab coat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the nursery was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited seventeen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like charades and charades. Her mom was planning to make plenty of ceviche and ceviche for everyone. Anne would try to blow out all fourteen candles on the azure and beige cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Anne would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a coat check ticket! She hoped it would be a hand-carved coat check ticket. Her friend Austin had said he would give her a fossil, and her main squeeze always gave her cool stuff like the ingot of plutonium she gave her last year. Anne could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dense fog was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her babushka. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the mountaintop. She would have to wear a skeleton costume instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her lab coat.
She jumped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like burning trash. Her mom was standing there with a Sham-Wow! in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a cheer.
"Hi Mommy!" Anne replied automatically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ceviche," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra celery seed. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Anne replied blankly. "Do we have the ceviche ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her mother replied shakily. "It only has to sear outside for eleven minutes."
"Okay," Anne replied bravely. "I'm gonna go to the nursery."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some waffles in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the nursery 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," Anne responded, as she sat down to her waffles. "Let's hang lots of golden balloons and cover the footstool and the washing machine with emerald green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother openly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Candi Whiteside. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a turkey baster."
"Buzzards," Anne responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a glare. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."