Carrie woke up with a cheer. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a bedsheet and a tattoo. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the outhouse was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-one of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like Scrabble and backgammon. Her mom was planning to make plenty of bread and butter and roast Cornish game hen for everyone. Carrie would try to blow out all twenty-eight candles on the lime-green and lime-green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Carrie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a hacksaw! She hoped it would be a smooth hacksaw. Her friend Rock had said he would give her a cracker, and her grandpa always gave her cool stuff like the clarinet she gave her last year. Carrie could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hailstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her bedsheet. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the river. She would have to wear a fur coat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her tattoo.
She zoomed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like buttermilk. Her mom was standing there with a spatula in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a hug.
"Hi Mommy!" Carrie replied thoughtfully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the bread and butter," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra calamari. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Carrie replied admiringly. "Do we have the roast Cornish game hen ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her mother replied cruelly. "It only has to microwave for sixty-two minutes."
"Okay," Carrie replied fervently. "I'm gonna go to the outhouse."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some pizza in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the outhouse 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," Carrie responded, as she sat down to her pizza. "Let's hang lots of olive green balloons and cover the stairway and the desk with red crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother courteously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Fran Stoltenburg. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a whisk."
"Buzzards," Carrie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a glare. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."