Beverly woke up with a roar. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a bow tie and a pair of roller skates. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the nursery was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-nine of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like follow the leader and billiards. Her mom was planning to make plenty of smoked salmon and mashed potatoes for everyone. Beverly would try to blow out all twenty-two candles on the sea green and beige cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Beverly would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a flower! She hoped it would be an overgrown flower. Her friend Simeon had said he would give her a diamond, and her grandma always gave her cool stuff like the Rubik's cube she gave her last year. Beverly could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hot day was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her bow tie. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the mesa. She would have to wear a pair of boxing gloves instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of roller skates.
She sailed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like beer. Her mom was standing there with a napkin in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a cackle.
"Hi Mommy!" Beverly replied arrogantly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the smoked salmon," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra strawberries. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Beverly replied admiringly. "Do we have the mashed potatoes ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," her mother replied curiously. "It only has to boil for seventy-seven minutes."
"Okay," Beverly replied slyly. "I'm gonna go to the nursery."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some borscht in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the nursery 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," Beverly responded, as she sat down to her borscht. "Let's hang lots of striped balloons and cover the ironing board and the pedestal with hot pink crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother wryly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Emily Nye. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a cheesecloth."
"Shhh," Beverly responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a face palm. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."