Tracy woke up with a belch. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a blouse and a pair of false eyelashes. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the game room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited three of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like pool and badminton. Her mom was planning to make plenty of ramen noodles and roast turkey for everyone. Tracy would try to blow out all twenty-five candles on the yellow and carrot-orange cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Tracy would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a salt shaker! She hoped it would be an original salt shaker. Her friend Parson had said he would give her a rock, and her girlfriend always gave her cool stuff like the china doll she gave her last year. Tracy could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hot, sunny day was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her blouse. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the peninsula. She would have to wear a sundress instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of false eyelashes.
She zoomed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a Chinese restaurant. Her mom was standing there with a spoon in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a smack.
"Hi Mommy!" Tracy replied fearfully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ramen noodles," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra frankfurters. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Tracy replied majestically. "Do we have the roast turkey ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her mother replied trustingly. "It only has to sear outside for eighty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Tracy replied urgently. "I'm gonna go to the game room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some chicken gumbo in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the game room 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," Tracy responded, as she sat down to her chicken gumbo. "Let's hang lots of yellow balloons and cover the chest of drawers and the credenza with aqua crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother coolly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Valerie Kulpinski. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a potato masher."
"Hang it," Tracy responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a sneer. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."