Chelsea woke up with a belly laugh. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a necklace and a burqa. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the front porch was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like golf and charades. Her mom was planning to make plenty of hamburgers and tacos for everyone. Chelsea would try to blow out all thirty-two candles on the camouflage and aqua cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Chelsea would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a ticket! She hoped it would be a waxy ticket. Her friend Arnie had said he would give her a tote bag, and her sister-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the comic book she gave her last year. Chelsea could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drought was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her necklace. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the trail. She would have to wear a set of braces instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her burqa.
She bounced downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like plastic. Her mom was standing there with a pair of tongs in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a wag of the finger.
"Hi Mommy!" Chelsea replied despondently. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the hamburgers," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra marshmallows. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Chelsea replied hopefully. "Do we have the tacos ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her mother replied sheepishly. "It only has to boil for sixty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Chelsea replied bravely. "I'm gonna go to the front porch."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some pizza in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the front porch 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," Chelsea responded, as she sat down to her pizza. "Let's hang lots of burgundy balloons and cover the bed and the hatstand with amber crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother zestily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Nadine Tate. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a cookie cutter."
"How about that," Chelsea responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a power fist. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."