Motormouth woke up with a flush. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a jumper and a beehive. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the laundry room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-four of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like battleship and Simon Says. Her mom was planning to make plenty of strawberry shortcake and doughnuts for everyone. Motormouth would try to blow out all twenty-seven candles on the olive drab and lime-green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Motormouth would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a paper towel! She hoped it would be a curved paper towel. Her friend Marty had said he would give her a teacup, and her mother-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the saw she gave her last year. Motormouth 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 jumper. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the island. She would have to wear a veil instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her beehive.
She climbed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like fingernail polish remover. Her mom was standing there with a meat tenderizer in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a honk.
"Hi Mommy!" Motormouth replied glibly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the strawberry shortcake," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra pitted cherries. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Motormouth replied daintily. "Do we have the doughnuts ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," her mother replied tenderly. "It only has to poach lightly for forty-three minutes."
"Okay," Motormouth replied gingerly. "I'm gonna go to the laundry room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some oyster on the half-shell in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the laundry room 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," Motormouth responded, as she sat down to her oyster on the half-shell. "Let's hang lots of yellow balloons and cover the ping-pong table and the ironing board with khaki crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother impatiently. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Madalyn Lancaster. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a slotted spoon."
"Ooh," Motormouth responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a hiccup. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."