Erica woke up with a titter. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a jogging suit and a sarong. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the library was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-seven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like red light green light and red light green light. Her mom was planning to make plenty of catfish stew and prime rib for everyone. Erica would try to blow out all sixteen candles on the camouflage and ivory cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Erica would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a vacuum cleaner! She hoped it would be a mysterious vacuum cleaner. Her friend Damon had said he would give her a business card, and her grandfather always gave her cool stuff like the paper airplane she gave her last year. Erica could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a thunderstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her jogging suit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the jungle. She would have to wear a jerkin instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her sarong.
She skittered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like baking cookies. Her mom was standing there with a food processor in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a belch.
"Hi Mommy!" Erica replied gleefully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the catfish stew," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra whipping cream. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Erica replied unnaturally. "Do we have the prime rib ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her mother replied intensely. "It only has to sauté for forty minutes."
"Okay," Erica replied lovingly. "I'm gonna go to the library."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some burritos 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," Erica responded, as she sat down to her burritos. "Let's hang lots of camouflage balloons and cover the wine rack and the bathtub with polka dotted crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother grimly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Jan Bratt. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an egg cutter."
"Why not?," Erica responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a grimace. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."