Stormy woke up with a squint. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a towel and a gun belt. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the salon was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited thirty of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like doctor and tennis. Her mom was planning to make plenty of tofu and roast turkey for everyone. Stormy would try to blow out all eight candles on the fuchsia and violet cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Stormy would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a cactus plant! She hoped it would be a musty cactus plant. Her friend Bobby had said he would give her an egg shell, and her aunt always gave her cool stuff like the paintbrush she gave her last year. Stormy could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that an ice storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her towel. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the outback. She would have to wear a pair of booties instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her gun belt.
She breezed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like marijuana. Her mom was standing there with a cookie cutter in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a face palm.
"Hi Mommy!" Stormy replied resignedly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the tofu," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra butter. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Stormy replied tensely. "Do we have the roast turkey ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," her mother replied proudly. "It only has to deep fry for forty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Stormy replied miserably. "I'm gonna go to the salon."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some falafel 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," Stormy responded, as she sat down to her falafel. "Let's hang lots of khaki balloons and cover the hope chest and the wine rack with terra cotta crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother rapidly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Krystal Strait. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a spatula."
"Bah," Stormy responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a wince. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."