Tara woke up with a snicker. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a false beard and an 'I'm with Stupid' shirt. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the pool room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-eight of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like trivia and Snakes and Ladders. Her mom was planning to make plenty of roast beef and ramen noodles for everyone. Tara would try to blow out all thirty-two candles on the black and magenta cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Tara would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a rag! She hoped it would be a colossal rag. Her friend Marcus had said he would give her a magazine, and her sister always gave her cool stuff like the mop she gave her last year. Tara could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drought was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her false beard. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the valley. She would have to wear a pair of earmuffs instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her 'I'm with Stupid' shirt.
She whirled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like lavender. Her mom was standing there with a cheesecloth in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a hiccup.
"Hi Mommy!" Tara replied proudly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the roast beef," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra kiwis, peeled and sliced. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Tara replied later. "Do we have the ramen noodles ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," her mother replied automatically. "It only has to scramble for thirty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Tara replied calmly. "I'm gonna go to the pool room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some egg salad sandwich in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the pool 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," Tara responded, as she sat down to her egg salad sandwich. "Let's hang lots of jet black balloons and cover the floor and the windowsill with turquoise crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother joyously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Valerie Kling. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a ladle."
"Shoot," Tara responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a shrug. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."