She walked the aisles looking for things that would do and put these things in her basket. Neon balloons, neon streamers, neon puffy paint, two posters that said “party” in metallic letters, some blank neon poster board, electric blue crepe tablecloths, two packages of pink plastic forks, party hats with Michael Jackson on them, and party hats with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on them.

“This’ll do fine,” she whispered.

“Ok, your total is 65.98,” said the cashier.

Elena hadn’t given her a stipend! she realized.

“Umm,” she said.

But Elena would pay her back, and she did have the leftovers of her paycheck in her purse.

She skipped to the car and put the party favors in the trunk. Elena had Yankee Candle Co. air fresheners in her trunk, and absolutely no crumbs embedded in the carpet.

“Mmmm, the cinnamon,” said Jillian.

The thrift store was fun, she thought. Her mission there was to pick up some 80s party costumes for the people who didn’t wear their own. Just so everyone could feel like they fit in, she guessed. This would be a breeze. She picked out a few formal dresses and then a few sweatshirts and some winter gloves.

“Your total is 35,” said the cashier. Jillian sighed.

“Whoa-kay,” she said.

It was already a little after noon, how did the time fly so fast? She was running out of money, so she had to cut a few corners, but it would be fine. Instead of the pre-cut carrot sticks she got bags of carrots, and instead of the pre-mixed Hawaiian Punch she got packets of Kool-Aid. Other than that, she stuck to the list (buying the store brand dips and cheese, though, of course, because she had a discount card at that particular grocery store).

She loaded up the car, congratulated herself on not getting pulled over (and totally busted and ruined, but no good to dwell on that!) and getting everything before 1:00 as she’d been asked.

She went into the church basement with an armload of her spoils and saw Elena there with a few of the other women from church. They were moving tables around and pointing at different parts of the room.

“Oh, thank God, where have you been?” asked Elena.

“Just on the errands. It’s before one, isn’t it?”

“Ok, bring all of the decorations down so we can get started.”

“Ok. Hey Elena, I can get you the receipts for this stuff, can you pay me back tonight?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Cool.”

It took three trips since none of the women offered to help, but in the end it didn’t take all that long to get everything down into the basement. When she came down with the last bags of snacks, she noticed Elena looking mad at the bags in the middle of the floor.

“What is all this stuff?” she asked.

“It’s the decorations and costumes,” said Jillian.