Elsie woke up with a frown. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a bolo tie and a hoop skirt. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the doghouse was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited seven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like Russian roulette and hopscotch. Her mom was planning to make plenty of egg rolls and doughnuts for everyone. Elsie would try to blow out all four candles on the periwinkle and yellow cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Elsie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a feather! She hoped it would be a fresh feather. Her friend Noah had said he would give her a calculator, and her grandpa always gave her cool stuff like the Big Gulp she gave her last year. Elsie 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 bolo tie. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the mesa. She would have to wear a pair of panties instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her hoop skirt.
She bolted downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like sautéed onions. Her mom was standing there with a melon baller in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a gurgle.
"Hi Mommy!" Elsie replied quickly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the egg rolls," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra applesauce. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Elsie replied menacingly. "Do we have the doughnuts ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," her mother replied humbly. "It only has to freeze for twenty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Elsie replied briskly. "I'm gonna go to the doghouse."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some egg salad sandwich in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the doghouse 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," Elsie responded, as she sat down to her egg salad sandwich. "Let's hang lots of brilliant orange balloons and cover the mattress and the pedestal with scarlet crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother madly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Anita Titus. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a garlic press."
"Alack," Elsie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a snarl. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."