Tanya woke up with a glare. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a space suit and a coat of mail. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the laundry room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like Rummy and hide and seek. Her mom was planning to make plenty of crab rangoon and fried chicken for everyone. Tanya would try to blow out all ten candles on the olive green and crimson cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Tanya would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an apple! She hoped it would be a speckled apple. Her friend Reynaldo had said he would give her a cigarette, and her grandma always gave her cool stuff like the boomerang she gave her last year. Tanya could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dense fog was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her space suit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the desert. She would have to wear a set of dentures instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her coat of mail.
She sailed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like garlic. Her mom was standing there with an electric mixer in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a frown.
"Hi Mommy!" Tanya replied mysteriously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the crab rangoon," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra peanut butter. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Tanya replied wildly. "Do we have the fried chicken ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her mother replied crossly. "It only has to blanch for seventy-seven minutes."
"Okay," Tanya replied coolly. "I'm gonna go to the laundry room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some ham 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," Tanya responded, as she sat down to her ham. "Let's hang lots of indigo balloons and cover the hatstand and the footstool with brilliant orange crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother cruelly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Irma Marx. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a ladle."
"Durn," Tanya responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a raised eyebrow. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."