Pleasance woke up with a jeer. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a wedding dress and an overcoat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the patio was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like checkers and Parcheesi. Her mom was planning to make plenty of oyster on the half-shell and oyster on the half-shell for everyone. Pleasance would try to blow out all twenty-five candles on the golden and brown cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Pleasance would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a brush! She hoped it would be a gigantic brush. Her friend Luke had said he would give her a spool of thread, and her main squeeze always gave her cool stuff like the flower she gave her last year. Pleasance could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a snowstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her wedding dress. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the moonscape. She would have to wear a pair of combat boots instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her overcoat.
She barrelled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like rain. Her mom was standing there with a napkin in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a guffaw.
"Hi Mommy!" Pleasance replied perkily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the oyster on the half-shell," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra peanuts. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Pleasance replied cautiously. "Do we have the oyster on the half-shell ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," her mother replied neatly. "It only has to refrigerate overnight for sixty-one minutes."
"Okay," Pleasance replied demurely. "I'm gonna go to the patio."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some mushroom quiche in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the patio 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," Pleasance responded, as she sat down to her mushroom quiche. "Let's hang lots of brilliant orange balloons and cover the water bed and the bed with aquamarine crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother blankly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Katie Mallory. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a spoon."
"Righto," Pleasance responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a twitch. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."