Laurie woke up with a finger gun. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a poncho and a romper. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the parlor was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-eight of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like trivia and trivia. Her mom was planning to make plenty of cotton candy and strawberry shortcake for everyone. Laurie would try to blow out all twenty-eight candles on the brown and scarlet cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Laurie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pair of pliers! She hoped it would be a hand-made pair of pliers. Her friend Eldon had said he would give her a hammer, and her mother-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the Frisbee she gave her last year. Laurie could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a period of warm weather was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her poncho. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the stream. She would have to wear a wedding dress instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her romper.
She bolted downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Yves Saint Laurent. Her mom was standing there with an ice pick in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a sneer.
"Hi Mommy!" Laurie replied unexpectedly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cotton candy," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra Tabasco sauce. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Laurie replied lamely. "Do we have the strawberry shortcake ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her mother replied vigorously. "It only has to freeze for forty-five minutes."
"Okay," Laurie replied hysterically. "I'm gonna go to the parlor."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some brownies in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the parlor 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," Laurie responded, as she sat down to her brownies. "Let's hang lots of olive drab balloons and cover the washstand and the four-poster bed with carrot-orange crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother grudgingly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Molly Apple. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a dish cloth."
"Sacre bleu," Laurie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a blush. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."