Valentina woke up with a belch. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a bandana and a set of camo fatigues. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the game room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-four of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like shuffleboard and crazy eights. Her mom was planning to make plenty of macaroni and roast Cornish game hen for everyone. Valentina would try to blow out all twenty-eight candles on the grey and pink cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Valentina would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a primrose! She hoped it would be a chic primrose. Her friend Yancey had said he would give her a saw, and her cousin always gave her cool stuff like the corsage she gave her last year. Valentina could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a pall of doom was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her bandana. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the jungle. She would have to wear a scarf instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her set of camo fatigues.
She cantered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like potpourri. Her mom was standing there with a pastry blender in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a jeer.
"Hi Mommy!" Valentina replied positively. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the macaroni," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra red wine. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Valentina replied cautiously. "Do we have the roast Cornish game hen ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her mother replied sweetly. "It only has to scramble for sixty-five minutes."
"Okay," Valentina replied fiercely. "I'm gonna go to the game room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some enchiladas in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the game room first?" she begged.
"It looks just like it always does," her mother replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Valentina responded, as she sat down to her enchiladas. "Let's hang lots of indigo balloons and cover the cupboard and the canopy bed with blue crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother curiously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Ruth Collins. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an egg cutter."
"Righto," Valentina responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a growl. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."