Pleasance woke up with a woof. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a bolo tie and a trench coat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the bedroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-four of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like marbles and shuffleboard. Her mom was planning to make plenty of beef bouillon and roast beef for everyone. Pleasance would try to blow out all fourteen candles on the mauve and aqua cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Pleasance would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a sack! She hoped it would be a sophisticated sack. Her friend Dave had said he would give her a towel, and her grandma always gave her cool stuff like the paper airplane she gave her last year. Pleasance 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 bolo tie. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the lakeside. She would have to wear a gun belt instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her trench coat.
She lurched downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a candle shop. Her mom was standing there with a meat tenderizer in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a wink.
"Hi Mommy!" Pleasance replied gruffly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the beef bouillon," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra frozen peas. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Pleasance replied sleepily. "Do we have the roast beef ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," her mother replied fearlessly. "It only has to shake for twenty-six minutes."
"Okay," Pleasance replied flightily. "I'm gonna go to the bedroom."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some steak in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the bedroom 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 steak. "Let's hang lots of khaki balloons and cover the buffet and the toilet with metallic red crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother daintily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Lynn Dowd. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a pastry blender."
"Ha," Pleasance responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a wag of the finger. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."