Sylvia woke up with a bound. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a bonnet and a burqa. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the guest room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited one of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like leapfrog and Candy Land. Her mom was planning to make plenty of roast turkey and hors d'oeuvre for everyone. Sylvia would try to blow out all eight candles on the chocolate brown and purple cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Sylvia would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a helmet! She hoped it would be a striped helmet. Her friend André had said he would give her a stamp, and her grandpa always gave her cool stuff like the stopwatch she gave her last year. Sylvia could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a sleet storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her bonnet. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the gulch. She would have to wear a beret instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her burqa.
She traipsed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like orange peel. Her mom was standing there with a cheesecloth in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a snort.
"Hi Mommy!" Sylvia replied noisily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the roast turkey," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra crabmeat. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Sylvia replied impatiently. "Do we have the hors d'oeuvre ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," her mother replied stealthily. "It only has to mix cheerfully for thirty-six minutes."
"Okay," Sylvia replied gingerly. "I'm gonna go to the guest room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some chicken pot pie in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the guest 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," Sylvia responded, as she sat down to her chicken pot pie. "Let's hang lots of silver balloons and cover the washstand and the floor with lavender crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother rapidly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Tori Baggins. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a mixing spoon."
"Grody to the max," Sylvia responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a jeer. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."