Eloise woke up with a squint. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in an armband and a tinfoil hat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the master bathroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited thirteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like Mother May I and dominos. Her mom was planning to make plenty of pretzels and lasagna for everyone. Eloise would try to blow out all twenty candles on the brilliant orange and jet black cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Eloise would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a dart! She hoped it would be a sophisticated dart. Her friend Fido had said he would give her a cactus plant, and her wife always gave her cool stuff like the box of candy she gave her last year. Eloise 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 armband. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the plateau. She would have to wear a heavy layer of makeup instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her tinfoil hat.
She skipped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like elderberries. Her mom was standing there with a pair of chopsticks in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a power fist.
"Hi Mommy!" Eloise replied violently. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pretzels," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra peeled carrots. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Eloise replied lazily. "Do we have the lasagna ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her mother replied warily. "It only has to boil for eighty-eight minutes."
"Okay," Eloise replied queerly. "I'm gonna go to the master bathroom."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some hash in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the master bathroom 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," Eloise responded, as she sat down to her hash. "Let's hang lots of purple balloons and cover the desk and the coffee table with olive drab crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother solemnly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Christabel Grundy. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a Sham-Wow!."
"Indeed," Eloise responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a shrug. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."