Tori woke up with a sneeze. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a cowboy hat and a pair of ear muffs. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the salon was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-eight of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like Snakes and Ladders and hopscotch. Her mom was planning to make plenty of apple pie and chicken pot pie for everyone. Tori would try to blow out all thirteen candles on the brilliant orange and navy blue cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Tori would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a campaign sign! She hoped it would be an ornate campaign sign. Her friend Noah had said he would give her a flowerpot, and her grandpa always gave her cool stuff like the photograph she gave her last year. Tori could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drizzle was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her cowboy hat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the swamp. She would have to wear a bib instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of ear muffs.
She padded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like bacon frying. Her mom was standing there with a ladle in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a sneeze.
"Hi Mommy!" Tori replied grudgingly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the apple pie," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra peanut butter. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Tori replied quickly. "Do we have the chicken pot pie ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," her mother replied temperamentally. "It only has to refrigerate overnight for ninety minutes."
"Okay," Tori replied slowly. "I'm gonna go to the salon."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some smoked salmon in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the salon 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," Tori responded, as she sat down to her smoked salmon. "Let's hang lots of olive green balloons and cover the safe and the mattress with blue crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother roughly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Annabelle Sanders. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a Sham-Wow!."
"I'll drink to that," Tori responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a roar. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."