Maybie woke up with a honk. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a wizard's hat and a sombrero. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the rec room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-one of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like doctor and shuffleboard. Her mom was planning to make plenty of tofu and strawberry shortcake for everyone. Maybie would try to blow out all eighteen candles on the aqua and hot pink cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Maybie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an orange! She hoped it would be a waxy orange. Her friend Rico had said he would give her a spittoon, and her wife always gave her cool stuff like the rubber stamp she gave her last year. Maybie could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a driving rain was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her wizard's hat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the pasture. She would have to wear a gun belt instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her sombrero.
She barrelled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like buttermilk. Her mom was standing there with an electric mixer in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a grimace.
"Hi Mommy!" Maybie replied surreptitiously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the tofu," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra Cheerios. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Maybie replied sagely. "Do we have the strawberry shortcake ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her mother replied solemnly. "It only has to heat in microwave for five minutes."
"Okay," Maybie replied violently. "I'm gonna go to the rec room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some cookies in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the rec 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," Maybie responded, as she sat down to her cookies. "Let's hang lots of sparkly balloons and cover the ping-pong table and the bath mat with tan crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother shakily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Dianna MacKenzie. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a blender."
"I think not," Maybie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a curtsey. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."