Brooke woke up with a bow. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of Oxfords and a headscarf. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the dungeon was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-one of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like red rover and leapfrog. Her mom was planning to make plenty of wienerschnitzel and cotton candy for everyone. Brooke would try to blow out all nine candles on the jade and aquamarine cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Brooke would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a soccer ball! She hoped it would be a coarse soccer ball. Her friend Joshua had said he would give her a coat check ticket, and her mommy always gave her cool stuff like the mushroom she gave her last year. Brooke could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that an earthquake was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pair of Oxfords. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the housing development. She would have to wear a corsage instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her headscarf.
She slumped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like bananas. Her mom was standing there with a potato masher in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a snigger.
"Hi Mommy!" Brooke replied queerly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the wienerschnitzel," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra white beans. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Brooke replied wryly. "Do we have the cotton candy ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," her mother replied nervously. "It only has to steam for seventy-five minutes."
"Okay," Brooke replied sympathetically. "I'm gonna go to the dungeon."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some pretzels in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the dungeon 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," Brooke responded, as she sat down to her pretzels. "Let's hang lots of indigo balloons and cover the overstuffed chair and the safe with golden crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother thankfully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Kate Williams. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a paring knife."
"Hey," Brooke responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a backward glance. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."