Antonia woke up with a chortle. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a motorcycle helmet and a feather boa. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the corridor was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eight of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like Snakes and Ladders and leapfrog. Her dad was planning to make plenty of candy and chicken chow mein for everyone. Antonia would try to blow out all fifteen candles on the brilliant orange and purple cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Antonia would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a can of shaving cream! She hoped it would be a plain can of shaving cream. Her friend Samina had said she would give her a tube of glue, and her fiancée always gave her cool stuff like the spider she gave her last year. Antonia could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a blizzard was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her motorcycle helmet. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the village. She would have to wear a feather boa instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her feather boa.
She flounced downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like blue cheese. Her dad was standing there with a paring knife in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a hiccup.
"Hi Daddy!" Antonia replied hungrily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the candy," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra pretzels. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Antonia replied daringly. "Do we have the chicken chow mein ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her father replied valiantly. "It only has to heat in microwave for nine minutes."
"Okay," Antonia replied cautiously. "I'm gonna go to the corridor."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some pizza in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the corridor 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," Antonia responded, as she sat down to her pizza. "Let's hang lots of blue balloons and cover the ping-pong table and the china hutch with blue crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father perkily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Janet Quintana. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a potato masher."
"Ugh," Antonia responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a raised eyebrow. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."