Harriet woke up with a sneer. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a garland and a belt. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the garage was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited thirteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like marbles and Clue. Her mom was planning to make plenty of tacos and lobster bisque for everyone. Harriet would try to blow out all thirty-four candles on the beige and violet cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Harriet would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a horseshoe! She hoped it would be a dusty horseshoe. Her friend Kelly had said he would give her a spinning wheel, and her sister-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the pepper grinder she gave her last year. Harriet could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drought was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her garland. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the badlands area. She would have to wear a G-string instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her belt.
She waltzed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like jasmine. Her mom was standing there with a potato peeler in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a smile.
"Hi Mommy!" Harriet replied speedily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the tacos," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra eggs. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Harriet replied openly. "Do we have the lobster bisque ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her mother replied unabashedly. "It only has to simmer for twenty minutes."
"Okay," Harriet replied stupidly. "I'm gonna go to the garage."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some macaroni in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the garage 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," Harriet responded, as she sat down to her macaroni. "Let's hang lots of aqua balloons and cover the workbench and the windowsill with sparkly crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother daintily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Ashley Osterman. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a chopstick."
"Ick," Harriet responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a hug. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."