Elinor woke up with a flutter. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a jumpsuit and an Armani suit. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the nursery was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited two of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like badminton and solitaire. Her dad was planning to make plenty of mulligan stew and cornbread for everyone. Elinor would try to blow out all fourteen candles on the aqua and salmon cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Elinor would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a flowerpot! She hoped it would be a slimy flowerpot. Her friend Erin had said she would give her a pair of knitting needles, and her sister always gave her cool stuff like the button she gave her last year. Elinor could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a blizzard was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her jumpsuit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the butte. She would have to wear a fez instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her Armani suit.
She scooted downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like ammonia. Her dad was standing there with an electric mixer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a titter.
"Hi Daddy!" Elinor replied crossly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the mulligan stew," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra canned milk. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Elinor replied hungrily. "Do we have the cornbread ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her father replied valiantly. "It only has to freeze for sixty-three minutes."
"Okay," Elinor replied blankly. "I'm gonna go to the nursery."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some blueberry pie in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the nursery first?" she begged.
"It looks just like it always does," her father replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Elinor responded, as she sat down to her blueberry pie. "Let's hang lots of chocolate brown balloons and cover the counter and the rocking chair with brown crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father blankly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Luann Sinclair. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an oven mitt."
"Why," Elinor responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a hiccup. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."