Claire woke up with a bow. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of moccasins and a hood. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the basement was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-eight of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like volleyball and hopscotch. Her mom was planning to make plenty of tuna casserole and pretzels for everyone. Claire would try to blow out all six candles on the crimson and black cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Claire would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a crate! She hoped it would be a jagged crate. Her friend Pedro had said he would give her a boomerang, and her grandmother always gave her cool stuff like the hockey puck she gave her last year. Claire could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drought was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pair of moccasins. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the mountain. She would have to wear a Speedo instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her hood.
She stalked downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like success. Her mom was standing there with a paring knife in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a jeer.
"Hi Mommy!" Claire replied admiringly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the tuna casserole," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra curry powder. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Claire replied effortlessly. "Do we have the pretzels ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," her mother replied craftily. "It only has to place on serving dish for seventeen minutes."
"Okay," Claire replied vigorously. "I'm gonna go to the basement."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some ramen noodles in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the basement 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 ramen noodles. "Let's hang lots of yellow balloons and cover the wardrobe and the counter with ivory crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother needlessly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Jane Peña. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an egg cutter."
"Gosh darn," Claire responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a beam. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."