Mim woke up with a flinch. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a gold medal and a pair of trousers. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the dining room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited fifteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like golf and hopscotch. Her mom was planning to make plenty of chicken chow mein and candy for everyone. Mim would try to blow out all thirty-one candles on the sea green and yellow cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Mim would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a piece of chalk! She hoped it would be a mechanical piece of chalk. Her friend Gunther had said he would give her a baseball, and her mom always gave her cool stuff like the duffel bag she gave her last year. Mim could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hurricane was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her gold medal. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the plateau. She would have to wear a cheerleader's uniform instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of trousers.
She straggled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like oregano. Her mom was standing there with a slotted spoon in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a shout.
"Hi Mommy!" Mim replied cheerfully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the chicken chow mein," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra cream cheese. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Mim replied narrowly. "Do we have the candy ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," her mother replied charmingly. "It only has to steam for seventy-two minutes."
"Okay," Mim replied sharply. "I'm gonna go to the dining room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some apple pie in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the dining 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," Mim responded, as she sat down to her apple pie. "Let's hang lots of teal balloons and cover the ottoman and the cushion with salmon crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother cautiously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Cassie Sledge. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a melon baller."
"Swell," Mim responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a power fist. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."