Gertrude woke up with a kiss. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a tarboosh and a set of scrubs. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the solarium was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited five of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like solitaire and Snakes and Ladders. Her mom was planning to make plenty of clam chowder and cornbread for everyone. Gertrude would try to blow out all sixteen candles on the camouflage and grey cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Gertrude would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a wastebasket! She hoped it would be an odd wastebasket. Her friend Chum had said he would give her a key, and her wife always gave her cool stuff like the salt shaker she gave her last year. Gertrude 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 tarboosh. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the forest. She would have to wear a bracelet instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her set of scrubs.
She crawled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like cigar smoke. Her mom was standing there with a blender in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a cackle.
"Hi Mommy!" Gertrude replied innocently. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the clam chowder," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra tofu. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Gertrude replied steadily. "Do we have the cornbread ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," her mother replied fearlessly. "It only has to grill for twenty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Gertrude replied smoothly. "I'm gonna go to the solarium."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some mulligan stew in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the solarium 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," Gertrude responded, as she sat down to her mulligan stew. "Let's hang lots of sparkly balloons and cover the end table and the cushion with teal crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother energetically. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Thelma Gardner. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a potato masher."
"Whew," Gertrude responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a guffaw. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."