Betty woke up with a cackle. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a bandana and a swimsuit. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the corridor was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-five of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like red light green light and cribbage. Her mom was planning to make plenty of cabbage rolls and egg drop soup for everyone. Betty would try to blow out all two candles on the burgundy and olive green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Betty would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a stopwatch! She hoped it would be a brightly-colored stopwatch. Her friend Ivan had said he would give her a flashlight, and her friend always gave her cool stuff like the rubber stamp she gave her last year. Betty could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dust storm 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 backyard. She would have to wear a jumper instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her swimsuit.
She straggled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like peanuts. Her mom was standing there with a potato peeler in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a bow.
"Hi Mommy!" Betty replied resignedly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cabbage rolls," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra blue cheese. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Betty replied recklessly. "Do we have the egg drop soup ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her mother replied stupidly. "It only has to refrigerate overnight for twenty minutes."
"Okay," Betty replied charmingly. "I'm gonna go to the corridor."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some burritos in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the corridor 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," Betty responded, as she sat down to her burritos. "Let's hang lots of black balloons and cover the bookcase and the file cabinet with turquoise crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother narrowly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Bria Shipman. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a cookie cutter."
"Umm," Betty responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a tear. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."