Liling woke up with a laugh. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a skirt and a pair of pajamas. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the laundry room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited one of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like duck duck goose and seven-up. Her mom was planning to make plenty of spaghetti and biscuits and gravy for everyone. Liling would try to blow out all thirty-three candles on the golden and olive green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Liling would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a dart! She hoped it would be a dry dart. Her friend Quincy had said he would give her a banana, and her main squeeze always gave her cool stuff like the bullet she gave her last year. Liling could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that an ice storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her skirt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the cave. She would have to wear a suit instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of pajamas.
She slipped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like anise. Her mom was standing there with a napkin in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a titter.
"Hi Mommy!" Liling replied unabashedly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the spaghetti," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra cream of mushroom soup. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Liling replied peevishly. "Do we have the biscuits and gravy ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her mother replied trustingly. "It only has to refrigerate overnight for forty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Liling replied slowly. "I'm gonna go to the laundry room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some mulligan stew in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the laundry room 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," Liling responded, as she sat down to her mulligan stew. "Let's hang lots of fuchsia balloons and cover the safe and the windowsill with striped crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother confidently. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Brianna Panzer. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an egg cutter."
"Ka-ching," Liling responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a belch. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."