Shelley woke up with a cringe. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a name tag and a dunce cap. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the closet was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-five of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like Clue and Scrabble. Her mom was planning to make plenty of spaghetti and hot dogs for everyone. Shelley would try to blow out all twelve candles on the forest green and metallic red cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Shelley would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a cracker! She hoped it would be an electric cracker. Her friend Jimmy had said he would give her an ingot of plutonium, and her grandmother always gave her cool stuff like the pair of headphones she gave her last year. Shelley could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a humid day was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her name tag. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the mountainside. She would have to wear a pair of flip-flops instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her dunce cap.
She strode downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Chanel No. 5. Her mom was standing there with a whisk in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a giggle.
"Hi Mommy!" Shelley replied rapidly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the spaghetti," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra sesame seeds. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Shelley replied coolly. "Do we have the hot dogs ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," her mother replied cheerfully. "It only has to sear outside for sixty-two minutes."
"Okay," Shelley replied thoughtfully. "I'm gonna go to the closet."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some cabbage rolls in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the closet 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," Shelley responded, as she sat down to her cabbage rolls. "Let's hang lots of black balloons and cover the settee and the hope chest with grey crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother sorrowfully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Jessi Fretwell. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a ladle."
"Boy oh boy," Shelley responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a bound. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."