Darlene woke up with a grunt. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a beret and a diamond bracelet. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the laundry room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like red light green light and cribbage. Her dad was planning to make plenty of cookies and Cheerios for everyone. Darlene would try to blow out all six candles on the khaki and red cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Darlene would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a file folder! She hoped it would be a miniature file folder. Her friend Judith had said she would give her a magnet, and her mentor always gave her cool stuff like the blank check she gave her last year. Darlene could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a bit of precipitation was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her beret. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the glen. She would have to wear a name tag instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her diamond bracelet.
She trekked downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a stable. Her dad was standing there with a basting brush in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a flush.
"Hi Daddy!" Darlene replied fearlessly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cookies," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra garlic powder. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Darlene replied lamely. "Do we have the Cheerios ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her father replied calmly. "It only has to allow to rise in warm place for several hours for eighty-four minutes."
"Okay," Darlene replied energetically. "I'm gonna go to the laundry room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some chicken pot pie in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the laundry room 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," Darlene responded, as she sat down to her chicken pot pie. "Let's hang lots of scarlet balloons and cover the china cabinet and the china hutch with navy blue crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father impatiently. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Alisa Xing. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a spoon."
"Boo," Darlene responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a raspberry. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."