Claire woke up with a yawn. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a hearing aid and a hat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the family room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-one of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like Scrabble and old maid. Her mom was planning to make plenty of pie a la mode and cherries jubilee for everyone. Claire would try to blow out all thirty-one candles on the maroon and jet black cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Claire would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a spinning wheel! She hoped it would be a luxurious spinning wheel. Her friend Plato had said he would give her a bilge pump, and her friend always gave her cool stuff like the clarinet she gave her last year. Claire could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a driving rain was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her hearing aid. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the field. She would have to wear a baseball cap instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her hat.
She scampered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like sour milk. Her mom was standing there with an electric paint mixer in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a curtsey.
"Hi Mommy!" Claire replied smoothly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pie a la mode," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra pecan pieces. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Claire replied gracefully. "Do we have the cherries jubilee ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her mother replied accidentally. "It only has to sear for eighty minutes."
"Okay," Claire replied primly. "I'm gonna go to the family room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some mushroom quiche in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the family 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," Claire responded, as she sat down to her mushroom quiche. "Let's hang lots of azure balloons and cover the toilet and the rug with burgundy crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother bravely. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Claudia McDermott. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a spatula."
"Fudge," Claire responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a twitch. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."