Gillian woke up with a blush. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a swimsuit and a beard. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the boiler room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like battleship and croquet. Her mom was planning to make plenty of sauerkraut and spaghetti for everyone. Gillian would try to blow out all seven candles on the lime-green and orange cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Gillian would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pair of fuzzy dice! She hoped it would be a sophisticated pair of fuzzy dice. Her friend Fido had said he would give her a calculator, and her dad always gave her cool stuff like the hot potato she gave her last year. Gillian could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hurricane was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her swimsuit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the housing development. She would have to wear a pair of contact lenses instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her beard.
She hobbled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like cheap cologne. Her mom was standing there with a spatula in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a twitch.
"Hi Mommy!" Gillian replied stupidly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the sauerkraut," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra sardines. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Gillian replied sagely. "Do we have the spaghetti ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her mother replied zestily. "It only has to blend for fifty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Gillian replied cleverly. "I'm gonna go to the boiler room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some lobster in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the boiler 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," Gillian responded, as she sat down to her lobster. "Let's hang lots of chocolate brown balloons and cover the canopy bed and the TV with red crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother offhandedly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Rosie Hudson. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a slotted spoon."
"Very funny," Gillian responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a fist bump. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."