Tara woke up with a flinch. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a visor and a badge. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the ballroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like tag and Simon Says. Her dad was planning to make plenty of enchiladas and tacos for everyone. Tara would try to blow out all twenty candles on the grey and fuchsia cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Tara would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a bird bath! She hoped it would be a handy bird bath. Her friend Daisy had said she would give her a candle, and her cousin always gave her cool stuff like the cardboard box she gave her last year. Tara could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dense fog was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her visor. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the mountain. She would have to wear a bonnet instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her badge.
She made a beeline downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like June roses. Her dad was standing there with a spoon in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a dope slap.
"Hi Daddy!" Tara replied ruefully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the enchiladas," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra mussels. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Tara replied fervently. "Do we have the tacos ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her father replied crossly. "It only has to grill for sixty-six minutes."
"Okay," Tara replied dreamily. "I'm gonna go to the ballroom."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some roast turkey in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the ballroom first?" she begged.
"It looks just like it always does," her father replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Tara responded, as she sat down to her roast turkey. "Let's hang lots of scarlet balloons and cover the windowsill and the fainting couch with scarlet crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father defiantly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Teresa Burns. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a pair of tongs."
"Peachy-keen," Tara responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a cringe. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."