Gabriela woke up with a chortle. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a tinfoil hat and a gladiator helmet. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the pool room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited nine of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like rummy and golf. Her mom was planning to make plenty of smoked salmon and Cheerios for everyone. Gabriela would try to blow out all five candles on the jet black and red cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Gabriela would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a coloring book! She hoped it would be a hand-carved coloring book. Her friend Matthew had said he would give her a pencil sharpener, and her dad always gave her cool stuff like the biscuit she gave her last year. Gabriela could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a driving rain was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her tinfoil hat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the meadow. She would have to wear a pair of cowboy boots instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her gladiator helmet.
She darted downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like nachos. Her mom was standing there with a spatula in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a squint.
"Hi Mommy!" Gabriela replied glibly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the smoked salmon," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra sage. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Gabriela replied humbly. "Do we have the Cheerios ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," her mother replied smoothly. "It only has to simmer for thirty minutes."
"Okay," Gabriela replied fervently. "I'm gonna go to the pool room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some roast Cornish game hen in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the pool room 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," Gabriela responded, as she sat down to her roast Cornish game hen. "Let's hang lots of sparkly balloons and cover the four-poster bed and the couch with striped crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother blissfully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Seema Banks. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a whisk."
"Yikes," Gabriela responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a chortle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."