Lucy woke up with a belly laugh. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a sport coat and a veil. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the cage was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited nineteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like tag and battleship. Her mom was planning to make plenty of bonbons and tortillas for everyone. Lucy would try to blow out all twenty-two candles on the yellow and brown cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Lucy would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a tennis racket! She hoped it would be a funny tennis racket. Her friend Kenneth had said he would give her a pair of pliers, and her friend always gave her cool stuff like the broom she gave her last year. Lucy could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a gale was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her sport coat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the village. She would have to wear a tailcoat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her veil.
She hopped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like cotton candy. Her mom was standing there with a potato peeler in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a smirk.
"Hi Mommy!" Lucy replied stupidly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the bonbons," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra habañero peppers. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Lucy replied automatically. "Do we have the tortillas ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," her mother replied sternly. "It only has to age for twenty minutes."
"Okay," Lucy replied angrily. "I'm gonna go to the cage."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some ice cream in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the cage 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," Lucy responded, as she sat down to her ice cream. "Let's hang lots of silver balloons and cover the table and the beanbag chair with jade crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother cautiously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Marybel Tuttle. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a pair of chopsticks."
"Aaaw," Lucy responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a snarl. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."