Francene woke up with an evil eye. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a gorilla suit and a cardigan. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the living room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-eight of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like hearts and dominos. Her mom was planning to make plenty of chicken pot pie and oyster on the half-shell for everyone. Francene would try to blow out all twenty-six candles on the lavender and chartreuse cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Francene would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a nail! She hoped it would be a synthetic nail. Her friend Hank had said he would give her a can of shaving cream, and her sister always gave her cool stuff like the dog collar she gave her last year. Francene could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a humid day was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her gorilla suit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the countryside. She would have to wear a birthday suit instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her cardigan.
She leapt downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like pesto. Her mom was standing there with a napkin in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a gasp.
"Hi Mommy!" Francene replied automatically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the chicken pot pie," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra pretzels. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Francene replied crankily. "Do we have the oyster on the half-shell ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," her mother replied sadly. "It only has to whirl for eighty-eight minutes."
"Okay," Francene replied immediately. "I'm gonna go to the living room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some duck a l'orange in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the living 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," Francene responded, as she sat down to her duck a l'orange. "Let's hang lots of metallic red balloons and cover the settee and the overstuffed chair with hot pink crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother strictly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Carla Carson. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a slotted spoon."
"Shucks," Francene responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a belch. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."