Kendra woke up with a hug. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of culottes and a wig. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the billiard room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eleven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like poker and baseball. Her mom was planning to make plenty of country glazed ham and egg salad sandwich for everyone. Kendra would try to blow out all ten candles on the yellow and ivory cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Kendra would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a telephone book! She hoped it would be a bent telephone book. Her friend Walt had said he would give her a smart phone, and her mother-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the napkin she gave her last year. Kendra could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a rainstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pair of culottes. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the cliff. She would have to wear a baseball cap instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her wig.
She dove downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like toothpaste. Her mom was standing there with a corkscrew in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with an air kiss.
"Hi Mommy!" Kendra replied energetically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the country glazed ham," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra pears. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Kendra replied needlessly. "Do we have the egg salad sandwich ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her mother replied lickety-split. "It only has to microwave for sixty-eight minutes."
"Okay," Kendra replied immediately. "I'm gonna go to the billiard room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some pretzels in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the billiard 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," Kendra responded, as she sat down to her pretzels. "Let's hang lots of striped balloons and cover the ironing board and the pedestal with sea green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother angrily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Joni Gentry. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a pair of chopsticks."
"Beats me," Kendra responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a roar. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."