Tabitha woke up with a cheer. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a space suit and a set of dentures. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the servant's quarters was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twelve of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like Cootie and bridge. Her mom was planning to make plenty of wienerschnitzel and Hamburger Helper for everyone. Tabitha would try to blow out all nine candles on the olive green and pink cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Tabitha would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a carrot! She hoped it would be a jagged carrot. Her friend Mao had said he would give her a corncob, and her grandma always gave her cool stuff like the chain she gave her last year. Tabitha could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a tornado was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her space suit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the island. She would have to wear a gorilla suit instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her set of dentures.
She galloped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like baking cookies. Her mom was standing there with an electric mixer in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a yawn.
"Hi Mommy!" Tabitha replied numbly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the wienerschnitzel," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra pineapple. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Tabitha replied daintily. "Do we have the Hamburger Helper ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," her mother replied roughly. "It only has to spread into container for seventy-three minutes."
"Okay," Tabitha replied fearlessly. "I'm gonna go to the servant's quarters."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some mulligan stew in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the servant's quarters 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," Tabitha responded, as she sat down to her mulligan stew. "Let's hang lots of peach balloons and cover the hatstand and the bookcase with salmon crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother thankfully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Hazel Rawlings. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a pastry blender."
"I'll bet," Tabitha responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a twitch. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."