Andrea woke up with a bound. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a baseball cap and a towel. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the outhouse was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited three of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like volleyball and marbles. Her mom was planning to make plenty of cherries jubilee and crumb cake for everyone. Andrea would try to blow out all fourteen candles on the olive drab and orange cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Andrea would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a paper clip! She hoped it would be a weird paper clip. Her friend Lance had said he would give her a paper towel, and her sister always gave her cool stuff like the remote control she gave her last year. Andrea could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a lightning storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her baseball cap. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the countryside. She would have to wear a derby instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her towel.
She stormed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like bubble gum. Her mom was standing there with a sharp knife in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a wrinkled nose.
"Hi Mommy!" Andrea replied timidly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cherries jubilee," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra Worcestershire sauce. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Andrea replied thankfully. "Do we have the crumb cake ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," her mother replied speedily. "It only has to blanch for forty-five minutes."
"Okay," Andrea replied majestically. "I'm gonna go to the outhouse."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some moo goo gai pan in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the outhouse 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," Andrea responded, as she sat down to her moo goo gai pan. "Let's hang lots of burgundy balloons and cover the casket and the TV with forest green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother courageously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Mildred Kilroy. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a melon baller."
"Feh," Andrea responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a snigger. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."