Holly woke up with a snarl. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a bolo tie and a diamond necklace. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the dining room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-two of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like hearts and charades. Her mom was planning to make plenty of cookies and shrimp for everyone. Holly would try to blow out all twenty-eight candles on the jet black and aquamarine cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Holly would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a plaque! She hoped it would be a jagged plaque. Her friend Mel had said he would give her a fish bowl, and her girlfriend always gave her cool stuff like the bullet she gave her last year. Holly could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a lightning storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her bolo tie. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the hill. She would have to wear a party hat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her diamond necklace.
She flew downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like hot cocoa. Her mom was standing there with a strainer in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a bound.
"Hi Mommy!" Holly replied nimbly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cookies," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra potato flakes. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Holly replied fondly. "Do we have the shrimp ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her mother replied crankily. "It only has to toast for twenty-two minutes."
"Okay," Holly replied unabashedly. "I'm gonna go to the dining room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some spaghetti in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the dining 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," Holly responded, as she sat down to her spaghetti. "Let's hang lots of chocolate brown balloons and cover the fainting couch and the dining table with turquoise crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother openly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Jeanne Prang. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a spoon."
"Yahoo," Holly responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a snicker. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."