Shannon woke up with a guffaw. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a trench coat and a watch. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the parlor was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-five of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like jump rope and Cootie. Her mom was planning to make plenty of blueberry pie and moo goo gai pan for everyone. Shannon would try to blow out all fifteen candles on the amber and brown cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Shannon would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a coin! She hoped it would be a crooked coin. Her friend Damon had said he would give her a stack of papers, and her sister-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the cookbook she gave her last year. Shannon could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dust storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her trench coat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the plateau. She would have to wear a cummerbund instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her watch.
She ambled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like chocolate cake. Her mom was standing there with a napkin in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a snort.
"Hi Mommy!" Shannon replied nervously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the blueberry pie," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra lemon juice. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Shannon replied unnaturally. "Do we have the moo goo gai pan ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," her mother replied hopefully. "It only has to smoke for nine minutes."
"Okay," Shannon replied stealthily. "I'm gonna go to the parlor."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some beef bouillon in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the parlor 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," Shannon responded, as she sat down to her beef bouillon. "Let's hang lots of azure balloons and cover the chair and the bar stool with terra cotta crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother smoothly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Oona Esser. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a paring knife."
"W00t," Shannon responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a roar. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."