Tess woke up with a backward glance. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a hearing aid and a pair of UGGs. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the nursery was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited thirty of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like Mother May I and Scrabble. Her mom was planning to make plenty of bread and butter and shrimp for everyone. Tess would try to blow out all nine candles on the peach and blue cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Tess would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a mop! She hoped it would be a hand-painted mop. Her friend Dorian had said he would give her a bag of ice, and her main squeeze always gave her cool stuff like the spinning wheel she gave her last year. Tess could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a gale was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her hearing aid. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the hillside. She would have to wear a bedsheet instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of UGGs.
She crept downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like gardenias. Her mom was standing there with an egg cutter in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a chuckle.
"Hi Mommy!" Tess replied sorrowfully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the bread and butter," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra dill pickles. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Tess replied zestily. "Do we have the shrimp ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," her mother replied majestically. "It only has to smoke for seven minutes."
"Okay," Tess replied dubiously. "I'm gonna go to the nursery."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some crab rangoon 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," Tess responded, as she sat down to her crab rangoon. "Let's hang lots of periwinkle balloons and cover the fainting couch and the dishwasher with pea green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother breathlessly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Christine Palin. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an ice pick."
"Excuse me," Tess responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a guffaw. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."