Chelsea woke up with a stiff upper lip. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of cowboy boots and a pair of gloves. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the den was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-seven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like shuffleboard and charades. Her mom was planning to make plenty of lime sherbet and tortillas for everyone. Chelsea would try to blow out all twenty-two candles on the black and forest green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Chelsea would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a box of Kleenex! She hoped it would be a brittle box of Kleenex. Her friend Borat had said he would give her a fishing rod, and her wife always gave her cool stuff like the ashtray she gave her last year. Chelsea could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dust storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pair of cowboy boots. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the plateau. She would have to wear a pair of ear muffs instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of gloves.
She sallied forth downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like peppermint. Her mom was standing there with a food processor in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a sneeze.
"Hi Mommy!" Chelsea replied tenderly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the lime sherbet," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra sesame seeds. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Chelsea replied grandly. "Do we have the tortillas ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," her mother replied daringly. "It only has to scramble for fifty-one minutes."
"Okay," Chelsea replied again. "I'm gonna go to the den."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some brownies in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the den 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," Chelsea responded, as she sat down to her brownies. "Let's hang lots of orange balloons and cover the canopy bed and the counter with beige crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother lightly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Triffid Hillman. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a paring knife."
"Sweet," Chelsea responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a yawn. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."