Molly woke up with a hiccup. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of safety glasses and a fur coat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the foyer was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like musical chairs and shuffleboard. Her mom was planning to make plenty of enchiladas and pancakes for everyone. Molly would try to blow out all thirty-two candles on the periwinkle and scarlet cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Molly would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a hand puppet! She hoped it would be a handy hand puppet. Her friend Marty had said he would give her a jerkin, and her grandfather always gave her cool stuff like the skull she gave her last year. Molly could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dust storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pair of safety glasses. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the outback. She would have to wear a fur coat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her fur coat.
She cantered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like autumn leaves. Her mom was standing there with an oven mitt in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a snort.
"Hi Mommy!" Molly replied speedily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the enchiladas," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra diced pineapple. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Molly replied peevishly. "Do we have the pancakes ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," her mother replied brightly. "It only has to arrange for eighty-three minutes."
"Okay," Molly replied effortlessly. "I'm gonna go to the foyer."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some egg drop soup in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the foyer 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," Molly responded, as she sat down to her egg drop soup. "Let's hang lots of polka dotted balloons and cover the armoire and the file cabinet with terra cotta crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother resignedly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Heidi Butterfield. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a Sham-Wow!."
"The joke's on you," Molly responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a wag of the finger. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."