Clarabell woke up with a raised eyebrow. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a bandana and a bra. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the salon was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited nine of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like battleship and Candy Land. Her mom was planning to make plenty of pretzels and ice cream for everyone. Clarabell would try to blow out all thirty-four candles on the orange and emerald green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Clarabell would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a magnet! She hoped it would be an art deco magnet. Her friend Christian had said he would give her a telephone book, and her grandma always gave her cool stuff like the Hostess Ding Dong she gave her last year. Clarabell could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a humid day was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her bandana. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the marsh. She would have to wear a tattoo instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her bra.
She waddled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like black pepper. Her mom was standing there with a pair of tongs in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a finger gun.
"Hi Mommy!" Clarabell replied calmly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pretzels," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra peanuts. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Clarabell replied gingerly. "Do we have the ice cream ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," her mother replied joyously. "It only has to fry for three minutes."
"Okay," Clarabell replied anxiously. "I'm gonna go to the salon."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some bonbons in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the salon 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," Clarabell responded, as she sat down to her bonbons. "Let's hang lots of golden balloons and cover the filing cabinet and the display case with navy blue crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother sagely. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Deb Gilson. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a fork."
"Dadgum," Clarabell responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a snigger. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."