Elliott woke up with a cringe. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a girdle and a pair of cargo pants. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the tool shed was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited nineteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like jump rope and seven-up. Her mom was planning to make plenty of roast Cornish game hen and chicken gumbo for everyone. Elliott would try to blow out all twenty candles on the jade and rose cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Elliott would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a muffin! She hoped it would be a petite muffin. Her friend Woody had said he would give her a blanket, and her wife always gave her cool stuff like the stuffed owl she gave her last year. Elliott could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a typhoon was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her girdle. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the canyon. She would have to wear a bonnet instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of cargo pants.
She crept downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like pizza. Her mom was standing there with a food processor in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a twitch.
"Hi Mommy!" Elliott replied swiftly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the roast Cornish game hen," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra fresh parsley. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Elliott replied boldly. "Do we have the chicken gumbo ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," her mother replied gruffly. "It only has to place on serving dish for forty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Elliott replied rapidly. "I'm gonna go to the tool shed."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some lime sherbet in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the tool shed 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," Elliott responded, as she sat down to her lime sherbet. "Let's hang lots of orange balloons and cover the ottoman and the mattress with sparkly crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother nonchalantly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Ruby Wykes. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a corkscrew."
"By Jove," Elliott responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a raspberry. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."