Cassie woke up with a yawn. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a blazer and a black belt. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the den was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-nine of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like poker and checkers. Her mom was planning to make plenty of burritos and egg salad sandwich for everyone. Cassie would try to blow out all twenty candles on the grey and burgundy cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Cassie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a rope! She hoped it would be a weird rope. Her friend Andy had said he would give her a business card, and her mommy always gave her cool stuff like the pencil she gave her last year. Cassie could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a typhoon was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her blazer. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the canyon. She would have to wear a pair of bell-bottoms instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her black belt.
She skidded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like hot cocoa. Her mom was standing there with a slotted spoon in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a smile.
"Hi Mommy!" Cassie replied accidentally. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the burritos," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra pecan pieces. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Cassie replied sternly. "Do we have the egg salad sandwich ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," her mother replied gleefully. "It only has to fry angrily in soft skillet for seventy-one minutes."
"Okay," Cassie replied hungrily. "I'm gonna go to the den."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some oatmeal in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the den 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," Cassie responded, as she sat down to her oatmeal. "Let's hang lots of mauve balloons and cover the china cabinet and the table with aqua crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother elatedly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Ling Lundy. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a paring knife."
"Lordy," Cassie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a sneer. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."