Sydney woke up with a cringe. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a fedora and a black armband. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the den was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like follow the leader and ring around the rosie. Her mom was planning to make plenty of beef bouillon and pot roast for everyone. Sydney would try to blow out all twenty-five candles on the golden and carrot-orange cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Sydney would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pack of gum! She hoped it would be a large pack of gum. Her friend Shepard had said he would give her a statue, and her grandfather always gave her cool stuff like the compass she gave her last year. Sydney could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drizzle was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her fedora. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the buffalo wallow. She would have to wear a pair of shoes instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her black armband.
She barrelled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like mushrooms. Her mom was standing there with a wooden spoon in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a flinch.
"Hi Mommy!" Sydney replied despondently. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the beef bouillon," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra cheese. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Sydney replied repeatedly. "Do we have the pot roast ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," her mother replied tearfully. "It only has to shake for thirty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Sydney replied dreamily. "I'm gonna go to the den."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some pancakes in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the den 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," Sydney responded, as she sat down to her pancakes. "Let's hang lots of blue balloons and cover the coat rack and the chair with pea green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother brashly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Pippa Fujimoto. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a basting brush."
"Jeez," Sydney responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a gasp. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."