Roxanne woke up with a beam. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of panties and a set of football pads. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the guest room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited fourteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like bridge and cribbage. Her mom was planning to make plenty of catfish stew and enchiladas for everyone. Roxanne would try to blow out all twenty-five candles on the khaki and aqua cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Roxanne would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a Frisbee! She hoped it would be a wooden Frisbee. Her friend LaDue had said he would give her a napkin, and her mother-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the calculator she gave her last year. Roxanne could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a blizzard was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pair of panties. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the lagoon. She would have to wear a stethoscope instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her set of football pads.
She flew downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like nachos. Her mom was standing there with a dull knife in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a clenched fist.
"Hi Mommy!" Roxanne replied sleepily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the catfish stew," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra lemon juice. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Roxanne replied grandly. "Do we have the enchiladas ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," her mother replied pityingly. "It only has to scramble for thirty-eight minutes."
"Okay," Roxanne replied gingerly. "I'm gonna go to the guest room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some duck a l'orange in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the guest 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," Roxanne responded, as she sat down to her duck a l'orange. "Let's hang lots of turquoise balloons and cover the chair and the pedestal with sea green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother stupidly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Elly Prescott. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a piece of cheesecloth."
"Gosh almighty," Roxanne responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a flush. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."