Karla woke up with a sniffle. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a ribbon and a pair of bell-bottoms. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the linen closet was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like checkers and jump rope. Her mom was planning to make plenty of applesauce and shrimp for everyone. Karla would try to blow out all nine candles on the violet and white cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Karla would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a telephone! She hoped it would be a gleaming telephone. Her friend Victor had said he would give her a bugle, and her grandfather always gave her cool stuff like the shovel she gave her last year. Karla could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a pelting rainstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her ribbon. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the cave. She would have to wear a uniform instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of bell-bottoms.
She loped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like cloves. Her mom was standing there with a cookie cutter in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a sigh.
"Hi Mommy!" Karla replied delicately. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the applesauce," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra mayonnaise. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Karla replied slyly. "Do we have the shrimp ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," her mother replied dubiously. "It only has to slow cook for sixty minutes."
"Okay," Karla replied ruefully. "I'm gonna go to the linen closet."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some burritos in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the linen closet 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," Karla responded, as she sat down to her burritos. "Let's hang lots of ivory balloons and cover the footstool and the pool table with grey crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother urgently. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Annabelle Hill. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a cheesecloth."
"Ow," Karla 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."