Mindy woke up with a chortle. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a tattoo and a jumper. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the porch was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited thirty of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like chess and Mother May I. Her mom was planning to make plenty of tofu and tofu for everyone. Mindy would try to blow out all twenty-eight candles on the crimson and burgundy cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Mindy would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a button! She hoped it would be a charming button. Her friend Craig had said he would give her a Lego set, and her mentor always gave her cool stuff like the battery she gave her last year. Mindy could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drought was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her tattoo. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the plateau. She would have to wear a pair of roller skates instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her jumper.
She pranced downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a mountain meadow. Her mom was standing there with a Sham-Wow! in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a tear.
"Hi Mommy!" Mindy replied violently. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the tofu," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra pretzels. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Mindy replied valiantly. "Do we have the tofu ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her mother replied pitifully. "It only has to grill for forty-six minutes."
"Okay," Mindy replied again. "I'm gonna go to the porch."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some pie a la mode in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the porch 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," Mindy responded, as she sat down to her pie a la mode. "Let's hang lots of sea green balloons and cover the couch and the mattress with maroon crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother steadily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Evelyn Fujimoto. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a Sham-Wow!."
"Barf," Mindy responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a grunt. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."