Morgan woke up with a squint. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a set of pink foam curlers and a hoop skirt. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the outhouse was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited sixteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like hide and seek and old maid. Her mom was planning to make plenty of egg drop soup and ham for everyone. Morgan would try to blow out all twenty-two candles on the sea green and blue cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Morgan would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a muffin! She hoped it would be a greasy muffin. Her friend Maximilian had said he would give her a Rubik's cube, and her main squeeze always gave her cool stuff like the battery she gave her last year. Morgan could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a tornado was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her set of pink foam curlers. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the arroyo. She would have to wear a diamond bracelet instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her hoop skirt.
She tramped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Chanel. Her mom was standing there with an ice pick in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a belch.
"Hi Mommy!" Morgan replied deliberately. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the egg drop soup," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra kidney beans. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Morgan replied arrogantly. "Do we have the ham ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," her mother replied hastily. "It only has to sear outside for eighty minutes."
"Okay," Morgan replied neatly. "I'm gonna go to the outhouse."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some macaroni in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the outhouse 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," Morgan responded, as she sat down to her macaroni. "Let's hang lots of turquoise balloons and cover the coffee table and the mattress with black crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother crankily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Bonita Delgado. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a basting brush."
"Ick," Morgan responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a woof. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."