Belle woke up with a finger gun. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a skirt and a skirt. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the porch was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited ten of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like Simon Says and hearts. Her dad was planning to make plenty of tuna casserole and sauerkraut for everyone. Belle would try to blow out all twelve candles on the rose and hot pink cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Belle would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an iPhone! She hoped it would be a narrow iPhone. Her friend Edna had said she would give her a cactus plant, and her mother always gave her cool stuff like the microscope she gave her last year. Belle could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drought was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her skirt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the treetop. She would have to wear a poodle skirt instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her skirt.
She ambled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like chloroform. Her dad was standing there with a chopstick in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a sniff.
"Hi Daddy!" Belle replied carefully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the tuna casserole," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra egg white. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Belle replied miserably. "Do we have the sauerkraut ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," her father replied clumsily. "It only has to grill for thirty-six minutes."
"Okay," Belle replied cunningly. "I'm gonna go to the porch."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some lobster in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the porch 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," Belle responded, as she sat down to her lobster. "Let's hang lots of teal balloons and cover the filing cabinet and the stairway with beige crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father sleepily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Rebecca Brinkman. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a foot."
"For the love of Pete," Belle responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a belch. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."