Angie 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 beach towel and an earring. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the basement was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like leapfrog and treasure hunt. Her mom was planning to make plenty of squash blossom soup and succotash for everyone. Angie would try to blow out all thirty-three candles on the hot pink and hot pink cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Angie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a box! She hoped it would be a gooey box. Her friend Jude had said he would give her a radio, and her cousin always gave her cool stuff like the chart she gave her last year. Angie could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a gale was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her beach towel. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the housing development. She would have to wear a bicycle helmet instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her earring.
She sashayed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like soap. Her mom was standing there with a meat tenderizer in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a wince.
"Hi Mommy!" Angie replied fearlessly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the squash blossom soup," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra okra. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Angie replied courageously. "Do we have the succotash ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," her mother replied furiously. "It only has to scramble for sixty minutes."
"Okay," Angie replied wearily. "I'm gonna go to the basement."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some blueberry pie in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the basement 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," Angie responded, as she sat down to her blueberry pie. "Let's hang lots of amber balloons and cover the recliner and the bath mat with silver crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother coolly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Andie Weston. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a garlic press."
"Big deal," Angie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a yawn. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."