Candy woke up with a clenched fist. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a set of vampire fangs and a jumper. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the conservatory was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited ten of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like dodge ball and Scrabble. Her mom was planning to make plenty of steak and bonbons for everyone. Candy would try to blow out all twenty-five candles on the lavender and emerald green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Candy would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a notebook! She hoped it would be a prickly notebook. Her friend Eric had said he would give her a baseball bat, and her cousin always gave her cool stuff like the arrowhead she gave her last year. Candy could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hailstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her set of vampire fangs. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the stream. She would have to wear a ring instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her jumper.
She pranced downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like licorice. Her mom was standing there with a basting brush in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a pout.
"Hi Mommy!" Candy replied busily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the steak," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra cayenne pepper. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Candy replied thankfully. "Do we have the bonbons ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," her mother replied courteously. "It only has to toast for one minute."
"Okay," Candy replied neatly. "I'm gonna go to the conservatory."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some lobster in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the conservatory 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," Candy responded, as she sat down to her lobster. "Let's hang lots of blue balloons and cover the catbird seat and the nightstand with lime-green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother primly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Marybel Nyberg. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a knife."
"Zounds," Candy responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a yawn. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."