Vivian woke up with a raspberry. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of nylons and a flour sack. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the study was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-nine of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like leapfrog and treasure hunt. Her mom was planning to make plenty of country glazed ham and prune pudding for everyone. Vivian would try to blow out all seven candles on the polka dotted and chartreuse cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Vivian would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pinwheel! She hoped it would be a spongy pinwheel. Her friend Ray had said he would give her a rock, and her aunt always gave her cool stuff like the rope she gave her last year. Vivian 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 pair of nylons. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the mesa. She would have to wear a pair of Groucho glasses instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her flour sack.
She marched downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like nachos. Her mom was standing there with a mixing spoon in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a dope slap.
"Hi Mommy!" Vivian replied sympathetically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the country glazed ham," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra salmon. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Vivian replied gingerly. "Do we have the prune pudding ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," her mother replied roughly. "It only has to fry for fourteen minutes."
"Okay," Vivian replied ruefully. "I'm gonna go to the study."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some wienerschnitzel in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the study 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," Vivian responded, as she sat down to her wienerschnitzel. "Let's hang lots of beige balloons and cover the card table and the bookcase with purple crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother sorrowfully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Linda Orman. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a napkin."
"Darn," Vivian responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a belly laugh. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."