Sydmo woke up with a cackle. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a T-shirt and a bonnet. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the study 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 roulette. Her dad was planning to make plenty of beans and prime rib for everyone. Sydmo would try to blow out all fourteen candles on the polka dotted and mauve cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Sydmo would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a firecracker! She hoped it would be a ruined firecracker. Her friend Tracy had said she would give her a vacuum cleaner, and her cousin always gave her cool stuff like the bag of potato chips she gave her last year. Sydmo could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a snowstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her T-shirt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the lakeside. She would have to wear a jerkin instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her bonnet.
She bounded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like old books. Her dad was standing there with a meat thermometer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a smirk.
"Hi Daddy!" Sydmo replied stupidly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the beans," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra chopped green pepper. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Sydmo replied blindly. "Do we have the prime rib ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," her father replied daringly. "It only has to grill for forty-three minutes."
"Okay," Sydmo replied warmly. "I'm gonna go to the study."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some steak in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the study 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," Sydmo responded, as she sat down to her steak. "Let's hang lots of silver balloons and cover the ironing board and the coat rack with lavender crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father furiously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Luann Kulpinski. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a melon baller."
"Woops," Sydmo responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a wag of the finger. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."