Dierdre woke up with a face palm. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in an armband and a girdle. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the rec room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited ten of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like pool and red light green light. Her mom was planning to make plenty of corn on the cob and enchiladas for everyone. Dierdre would try to blow out all twenty-three candles on the tan and chocolate brown cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Dierdre would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a camera! She hoped it would be a hefty camera. Her friend Quentin had said he would give her a stack of papers, and her mother-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the cream puff she gave her last year. Dierdre could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a tornado was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her armband. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the field. She would have to wear a scarf instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her girdle.
She zoomed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a dusty attic. Her mom was standing there with a knife in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a death glare.
"Hi Mommy!" Dierdre replied grandly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the corn on the cob," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra canned pineapple. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Dierdre replied warily. "Do we have the enchiladas ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," her mother replied truculently. "It only has to shake for twenty-one minutes."
"Okay," Dierdre replied cleverly. "I'm gonna go to the rec room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some fried chicken in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the rec 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," Dierdre responded, as she sat down to her fried chicken. "Let's hang lots of burgundy balloons and cover the hatstand and the dresser with indigo crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother needlessly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Abigail Brunken. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a blender."
"Jeepers creepers," Dierdre 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."