Claire woke up with a twitch. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a headscarf and a pocket watch. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the doghouse was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited fifteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like Candy Land and Cootie. Her mom was planning to make plenty of chicken pot pie and pumpkin pie for everyone. Claire would try to blow out all four candles on the salmon and sea green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Claire would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a dart! She hoped it would be a queer dart. Her friend Marv had said he would give her a fishing pole, and her grandpa always gave her cool stuff like the Happy Meal she gave her last year. Claire could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hot, sunny day was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her headscarf. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the peninsula. She would have to wear a bustier instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pocket watch.
She flew downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like licorice. Her mom was standing there with a pair of tongs in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a woof.
"Hi Mommy!" Claire replied lazily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the chicken pot pie," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra stuffed green olives. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Claire replied dolorously. "Do we have the pumpkin pie ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," her mother replied blankly. "It only has to slow cook for seventy-nine minutes."
"Okay," Claire replied tensely. "I'm gonna go to the doghouse."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some pie a la mode in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the doghouse 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," Claire responded, as she sat down to her pie a la mode. "Let's hang lots of yellow balloons and cover the billiard table and the armoire with amber crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother boisterously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Mia Knopf. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a meat tenderizer."
"Jiminy crickets," Claire responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a snarl. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."