Ana woke up with a beam. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a flak jacket and an earring. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the laundry room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twelve of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like jump rope and Russian roulette. Her mom was planning to make plenty of ravioli and spaghetti for everyone. Ana would try to blow out all twenty-seven candles on the sea green and metallic red cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Ana would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a notepad! She hoped it would be a clean notepad. Her friend Stan had said he would give her a chair, and her grandfather always gave her cool stuff like the egg shell she gave her last year. Ana could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a rainstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her flak jacket. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the neighborhood. She would have to wear a pair of flip-flops instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her earring.
She waded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like gingerbread. Her mom was standing there with a melon baller in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a smirk.
"Hi Mommy!" Ana replied lightly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ravioli," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra kosher salt. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Ana replied impatiently. "Do we have the spaghetti ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," her mother replied happily. "It only has to steam for thirty-four minutes."
"Okay," Ana replied cunningly. "I'm gonna go to the laundry room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some mulligan stew 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," Ana responded, as she sat down to her mulligan stew. "Let's hang lots of rose balloons and cover the computer and the credenza with forest green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother vacantly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Jill Flanagan. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an oven mitt."
"Man alive," Ana responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a curtsey. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."