Loreen woke up with a shrug. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a hearing aid and a bodysuit. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the master bathroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like dominos and croquet. Her mom was planning to make plenty of fish and chips and popcorn for everyone. Loreen would try to blow out all fourteen candles on the green and pea green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Loreen would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a calling card! She hoped it would be a synthetic calling card. Her friend Grover had said he would give her a fire hose, and her grandpa always gave her cool stuff like the baseball bat she gave her last year. Loreen could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dust storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her hearing aid. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the seashore. She would have to wear a bedsheet instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her bodysuit.
She crawled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like rotten eggs. Her mom was standing there with a Sham-Wow! in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a sigh.
"Hi Mommy!" Loreen replied offhandedly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the fish and chips," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra water chestnuts. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Loreen replied steadily. "Do we have the popcorn ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," her mother replied daintily. "It only has to roast for seven minutes."
"Okay," Loreen replied grudgingly. "I'm gonna go to the master bathroom."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some catfish stew in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the master bathroom 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," Loreen responded, as she sat down to her catfish stew. "Let's hang lots of metallic red balloons and cover the pool table and the sofa with tan crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother courteously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Lottie Cheng. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a fork."
"Excuse me," Loreen responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a chortle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."