LaDonna woke up with a sneeze. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in an armband and a gunny sack. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the living room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited sixteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like red light green light and tag. Her mom was planning to make plenty of cotton candy and cinnamon toast for everyone. LaDonna would try to blow out all sixteen candles on the navy blue and magenta cake. While the guests were eating their cake, LaDonna would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pair of knitting needles! She hoped it would be an old pair of knitting needles. Her friend Thomas had said he would give her a bagpipe, and her cousin always gave her cool stuff like the teapot she gave her last year. LaDonna could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a blanket of mist was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her armband. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the field. She would have to wear a sport coat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her gunny sack.
She skipped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like buttermilk. Her mom was standing there with a garlic press in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a shout.
"Hi Mommy!" LaDonna replied sarcastically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cotton candy," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra mussels. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," LaDonna replied furiously. "Do we have the cinnamon toast ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," her mother replied menacingly. "It only has to fry peevishly in electronic skillet for eighty-seven minutes."
"Okay," LaDonna replied despondently. "I'm gonna go to the living room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some egg rolls in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the living room 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," LaDonna responded, as she sat down to her egg rolls. "Let's hang lots of peach balloons and cover the wooden crate and the bookshelf with purple crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother violently. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Jill Franklin. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a Sham-Wow!."
"LOL," LaDonna responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a snuffle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."