Angela woke up with a hug. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a Panama hat and a pair of boxer shorts. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the rec room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like hopscotch and marbles. Her mom was planning to make plenty of beef bouillon and scrambled eggs for everyone. Angela would try to blow out all twelve candles on the aqua and brown cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Angela would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a toilet seat! She hoped it would be a yellow toilet seat. Her friend Ahmed had said he would give her a diagram, and her grandfather always gave her cool stuff like the bottle of painkillers she gave her last year. Angela could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a flood was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her Panama hat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the landfill. She would have to wear a pair of combat boots instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of boxer shorts.
She slithered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like pepper. Her mom was standing there with a paring knife in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a smile.
"Hi Mommy!" Angela replied warmly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the beef bouillon," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra hot water. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Angela replied recklessly. "Do we have the scrambled eggs ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her mother replied properly. "It only has to marinate for twenty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Angela replied obediently. "I'm gonna go to the rec room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some lime sherbet 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," Angela responded, as she sat down to her lime sherbet. "Let's hang lots of metallic red balloons and cover the bathtub and the chair with burgundy crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother steadily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Hannah Fontanaro. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a food processor."
"Great Jehosaphat," Angela responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a flush. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."