Clio woke up with a sneer. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a tool belt and a jumpsuit. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the cage was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eighteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like shuffleboard and battleship. Her mom was planning to make plenty of cabbage and succotash for everyone. Clio would try to blow out all thirty candles on the red and green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Clio would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a cell phone! She hoped it would be a primitive cell phone. Her friend Quincy had said he would give her a calling card, and her mother-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the baseball she gave her last year. Clio could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hurricane was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her tool belt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the lagoon. She would have to wear a negligee instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her jumpsuit.
She tramped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a barn. Her mom was standing there with a piece of cheesecloth in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a sigh.
"Hi Mommy!" Clio replied vigorously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cabbage," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra parsley. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Clio replied reluctantly. "Do we have the succotash ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," her mother replied steadily. "It only has to marinate for seventeen minutes."
"Okay," Clio replied later. "I'm gonna go to the cage."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some clam chowder 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," Clio responded, as she sat down to her clam chowder. "Let's hang lots of yellow balloons and cover the workbench and the cupboard with camouflage crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother haughtily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Magnolia Montgomery. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a dull knife."
"Kazow," Clio responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a stiff upper lip. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."