Drew woke up with a pucker. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a jerkin and a stovepipe hat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the porch was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eleven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like leapfrog and bridge. Her mom was planning to make plenty of jambalaya and egg salad sandwich for everyone. Drew would try to blow out all nine candles on the tan and mauve cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Drew would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a toilet seat! She hoped it would be a coarse toilet seat. Her friend Tom had said he would give her a Happy Meal, and her cousin always gave her cool stuff like the pair of scissors she gave her last year. Drew could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hot, sunny day was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her jerkin. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the pond. She would have to wear a jerkin instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her stovepipe hat.
She sped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like car exhaust. Her mom was standing there with an electric mixer in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a roar.
"Hi Mommy!" Drew replied accidentally. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the jambalaya," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra egg noodles. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Drew replied happily. "Do we have the egg salad sandwich ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," her mother replied fearfully. "It only has to blanch for seventy-five minutes."
"Okay," Drew replied confidently. "I'm gonna go to the porch."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some squash blossom soup in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the porch 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," Drew responded, as she sat down to her squash blossom soup. "Let's hang lots of olive green balloons and cover the nightstand and the workbench with aquamarine crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother fervently. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Eppie Orwell. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a spatula."
"Holy smokeroo," Drew responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a wink. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."