Iris woke up with a tear. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a bow tie and a Superman costume. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the lounge was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited seventeen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like Cootie and baseball. Her mom was planning to make plenty of cinnamon toast and strawberry shortcake for everyone. Iris would try to blow out all thirty-two candles on the hot pink and red cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Iris would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a cotton ball! She hoped it would be a brightly-colored cotton ball. Her friend Angelo had said he would give her a Lego set, and her grandmother always gave her cool stuff like the lemon she gave her last year. Iris could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drought was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her bow tie. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the path. She would have to wear a cocktail dress instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her Superman costume.
She flew downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like sausage. Her mom was standing there with a potato peeler in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a wag of the finger.
"Hi Mommy!" Iris replied crossly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cinnamon toast," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra onion powder. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Iris replied blankly. "Do we have the strawberry shortcake ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," her mother replied nervously. "It only has to sear outside for sixty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Iris replied tenderly. "I'm gonna go to the lounge."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some cherries jubilee in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the lounge 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," Iris responded, as she sat down to her cherries jubilee. "Let's hang lots of blue balloons and cover the ping-pong table and the futon with turquoise crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother frenetically. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Deirdre Bell. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a dull knife."
"Shhh," Iris responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a chuckle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."