Kylie woke up with a wag of the finger. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a skirt and a dress. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the hall was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited fifteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like follow the leader and Monopoly. Her mom was planning to make plenty of potatoes and gravy and wienerschnitzel for everyone. Kylie would try to blow out all fourteen candles on the white and yellow cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Kylie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a cigar! She hoped it would be a wet cigar. Her friend William had said he would give her a broom, and her cousin always gave her cool stuff like the pepper grinder she gave her last year. Kylie could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a bit of precipitation was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her skirt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the badlands area. She would have to wear a bomber jacket instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her dress.
She breezed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like burnt toast. Her mom was standing there with a melon baller in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a raised eyebrow.
"Hi Mommy!" Kylie replied defiantly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the potatoes and gravy," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra tomato sauce. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Kylie replied pitifully. "Do we have the wienerschnitzel ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," her mother replied fearlessly. "It only has to fry for nine minutes."
"Okay," Kylie replied caustically. "I'm gonna go to the hall."
"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 hall 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," Kylie responded, as she sat down to her pretzels. "Let's hang lots of burgundy balloons and cover the washstand and the bar stool with violet crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother defiantly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Stacy Abrams. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a cookie cutter."
"Good gravy," Kylie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a snort. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."