Motormouth woke up with a kiss. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a fez and a dress. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the tool shed was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twelve of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like Monopoly and hide and seek. Her dad was planning to make plenty of cabbage rolls and beans for everyone. Motormouth would try to blow out all thirteen candles on the amber and sparkly cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Motormouth would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a spool of thread! She hoped it would be an ordinary spool of thread. Her friend Laurie had said she would give her a piece of candy, and her grandfather always gave her cool stuff like the coloring book she gave her last year. Motormouth could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that an ice storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her fez. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the veld. She would have to wear a party hat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her dress.
She sallied forth downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Chanel. Her dad was standing there with a pair of tongs in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a cackle.
"Hi Daddy!" Motormouth replied briskly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cabbage rolls," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra carrots. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Motormouth replied fervently. "Do we have the beans ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," her father replied narrowly. "It only has to deep fry for eighty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Motormouth replied patiently. "I'm gonna go to the tool shed."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some brownies in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the tool shed first?" she begged.
"It looks just like it always does," her father replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Motormouth responded, as she sat down to her brownies. "Let's hang lots of polka dotted balloons and cover the pedestal and the billiard table with navy blue crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father cruelly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Jean Trott. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a basting brush."
"Yep," Motormouth responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a squint. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."