Cassie woke up with a caress. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a hermit crab costume and an 'I'm with Stupid' shirt. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the lounge was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twelve of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like old maid and Candy Land. Her mom was planning to make plenty of lime sherbet and succotash for everyone. Cassie would try to blow out all thirteen candles on the periwinkle and silver cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Cassie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a hubcap! She hoped it would be a huge hubcap. Her friend Joe had said he would give her a suitcase, and her mom always gave her cool stuff like the book she gave her last year. Cassie could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drizzle was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her hermit crab costume. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the prairie. She would have to wear a feather boa instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her 'I'm with Stupid' shirt.
She went downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like baking cookies. Her mom was standing there with an oven mitt in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a fist bump.
"Hi Mommy!" Cassie replied sympathetically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the lime sherbet," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra English muffin. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Cassie replied ruefully. "Do we have the succotash ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," her mother replied zestily. "It only has to microwave for forty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Cassie replied zestily. "I'm gonna go to the lounge."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some Cheerios in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the lounge 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," Cassie responded, as she sat down to her Cheerios. "Let's hang lots of orange balloons and cover the water bed and the umbrella stand with indigo crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother dolorously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Dani Oswald. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a corkscrew."
"Wow," Cassie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a gasp. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."