Patty woke up with a belly laugh. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pacifier and an apron. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the guest room 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 volleyball and hopscotch. Her mom was planning to make plenty of bread and butter and cornbread for everyone. Patty would try to blow out all twenty candles on the golden and periwinkle cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Patty would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a telephone book! She hoped it would be a greasy telephone book. Her friend Ethan had said he would give her a cotton ball, and her sister-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the clam she gave her last year. Patty could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a rainbow was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pacifier. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the peninsula. She would have to wear a pair of suspenders instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her apron.
She inched downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like cookies. Her mom was standing there with a cookie cutter in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a belch.
"Hi Mommy!" Patty replied ferociously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the bread and butter," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra garlic powder. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Patty replied unexpectedly. "Do we have the cornbread ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her mother replied sorrowfully. "It only has to spread into container for seventy-seven minutes."
"Okay," Patty replied boldly. "I'm gonna go to the guest room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some spaghetti in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the guest room 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," Patty responded, as she sat down to her spaghetti. "Let's hang lots of pink balloons and cover the umbrella stand and the china cabinet with brown crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother lickety-split. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Iggy Truman. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an oven mitt."
"Ah," Patty responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a shiver. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."