Lottie woke up with a caress. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a gold medal and a headband. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the master bathroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited thirteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like marbles and cribbage. Her mom was planning to make plenty of pie a la mode and hamburgers for everyone. Lottie would try to blow out all six candles on the maroon and khaki cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Lottie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a baseball! She hoped it would be a chic baseball. Her friend Flash had said he would give her a chain, and her main squeeze always gave her cool stuff like the pink flamingo she gave her last year. Lottie could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a downpour was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her gold medal. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the pond. She would have to wear a tailcoat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her headband.
She traipsed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like marijuana. Her mom was standing there with a wooden spoon in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a wag of the finger.
"Hi Mommy!" Lottie replied crankily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pie a la mode," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra sour cream. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Lottie replied shakily. "Do we have the hamburgers ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," her mother replied dolefully. "It only has to sear for thirty-eight minutes."
"Okay," Lottie replied miserably. "I'm gonna go to the master bathroom."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some jambalaya in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the master bathroom 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," Lottie responded, as she sat down to her jambalaya. "Let's hang lots of golden balloons and cover the canopy bed and the nightstand with jade crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother dolefully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Marion Winters. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a dull knife."
"Nope," Lottie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a furrowed brow. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."