Carolyn woke up with a hoot. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of knickerbockers and a badge. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the library was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited fourteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like marbles and tag. Her mom was planning to make plenty of macaroni and cheese and crumb cake for everyone. Carolyn would try to blow out all twenty-six candles on the brown and fuchsia cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Carolyn would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a crystal ball! She hoped it would be a golden crystal ball. Her friend Otto had said he would give her a stone, and her mother always gave her cool stuff like the Band-aid she gave her last year. Carolyn could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a sleet storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pair of knickerbockers. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the ridge. She would have to wear a corset instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her badge.
She proceeded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like hairspray. Her mom was standing there with a spoon in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a hug.
"Hi Mommy!" Carolyn replied gracefully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the macaroni and cheese," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra limburger cheese. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Carolyn replied victoriously. "Do we have the crumb cake ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," her mother replied sternly. "It only has to fry solemnly in damaged skillet for seventy-six minutes."
"Okay," Carolyn replied vigorously. "I'm gonna go to the library."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some egg salad sandwich in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the library 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," Carolyn responded, as she sat down to her egg salad sandwich. "Let's hang lots of metallic red balloons and cover the bookshelf and the water bed with aquamarine crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother sternly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Hilda Gong. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a meat tenderizer."
"Eek," Carolyn 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."