April woke up with an evil eye. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a set of football pads and a sweater. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the living room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited thirty of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like dominos and backgammon. Her mom was planning to make plenty of chopped liver and prune pudding for everyone. April would try to blow out all three candles on the violet and turquoise cake. While the guests were eating their cake, April would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a trash can! She hoped it would be a ridiculous trash can. Her friend Herb had said he would give her a bugle, and her sister always gave her cool stuff like the feather she gave her last year. April could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a snowstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her set of football pads. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the grassland. She would have to wear a pair of earrings instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her sweater.
She lurched downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like onions. Her mom was standing there with a potato masher in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a stiff upper lip.
"Hi Mommy!" April replied slyly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the chopped liver," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra peanuts. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," April replied intensely. "Do we have the prune pudding ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," her mother replied suddenly. "It only has to marinate for sixteen minutes."
"Okay," April replied oddly. "I'm gonna go to the living room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some omelet in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the living 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," April responded, as she sat down to her omelet. "Let's hang lots of tan balloons and cover the desk and the desk with chartreuse crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother lickety-split. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Denise Greco. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a meat tenderizer."
"Holy buckets," April responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a backward glance. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."