Christine 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 suit and a sweatshirt. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the boiler room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eleven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like shuffleboard and crazy eights. Her mom was planning to make plenty of cabbage and oyster on the half-shell for everyone. Christine would try to blow out all twenty-four candles on the maroon and magenta cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Christine would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pom-pom! She hoped it would be a fabulous pom-pom. Her friend Beauford had said he would give her a can of soup, and her mentor always gave her cool stuff like the egg shell she gave her last year. Christine could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a pelting rainstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her suit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the peninsula. She would have to wear a pith helmet instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her sweatshirt.
She crawled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like spearmint. Her mom was standing there with a pair of chopsticks in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a twitch.
"Hi Mommy!" Christine replied solemnly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cabbage," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra pomegranate juice. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Christine replied arrogantly. "Do we have the oyster on the half-shell ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," her mother replied hungrily. "It only has to toast for ninety minutes."
"Okay," Christine replied excitedly. "I'm gonna go to the boiler room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some mushroom quiche in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the boiler 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," Christine responded, as she sat down to her mushroom quiche. "Let's hang lots of burgundy balloons and cover the TV and the card table with turquoise crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother anxiously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Mopsy Schneider. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a napkin."
"Whoa baby," Christine responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a snuffle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."