Babs woke up with a smirk. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a coat of mail and a pair of shin guards. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the basement was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited seven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like jump rope and Simon Says. Her mom was planning to make plenty of pot roast and shrimp for everyone. Babs would try to blow out all four candles on the aqua and aqua cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Babs would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pencil sharpener! She hoped it would be a shiny pencil sharpener. Her friend Hunter had said he would give her a barbell, and her sister-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the bag she gave her last year. Babs could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a blanket of mist was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her coat of mail. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the gulch. She would have to wear a hat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of shin guards.
She flew downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a skunk. Her mom was standing there with a pastry blender in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a snigger.
"Hi Mommy!" Babs replied craftily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pot roast," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra fresh papaya. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Babs replied gratefully. "Do we have the shrimp ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," her mother replied fiercely. "It only has to whirl for sixty-eight minutes."
"Okay," Babs replied noisily. "I'm gonna go to the basement."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some chopped liver in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the basement 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," Babs responded, as she sat down to her chopped liver. "Let's hang lots of lime-green balloons and cover the stool and the piano with brilliant orange crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother repeatedly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Linda Danielson. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a pair of tongs."
"Dang," Babs responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a cheer. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."