Toni woke up with a hug. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a headband and a ski mask. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the patio was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eight of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like doctor and marbles. Her mom was planning to make plenty of biscuits and gravy and squash blossom soup for everyone. Toni would try to blow out all five candles on the maroon and chocolate brown cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Toni would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pen! She hoped it would be a leather pen. Her friend Jack had said he would give her a flyswatter, and her wife always gave her cool stuff like the Rubik's cube she gave her last year. Toni could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a blanket of mist was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her headband. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the valley. She would have to wear a Panama hat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her ski mask.
She leapt downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like peanut butter. Her mom was standing there with a potato peeler in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a glare.
"Hi Mommy!" Toni replied sleepily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the biscuits and gravy," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra shelled pecans. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Toni replied demurely. "Do we have the squash blossom soup ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," her mother replied stupidly. "It only has to heat for thirty-one minutes."
"Okay," Toni replied victoriously. "I'm gonna go to the patio."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some strawberry shortcake 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," Toni responded, as she sat down to her strawberry shortcake. "Let's hang lots of metallic red balloons and cover the futon and the fainting couch with magenta crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother tearfully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Kayla Bede. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a mixing spoon."
"Inconceivable," Toni responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a gasp. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."