Seema woke up with a grin. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a raincoat and a tunic. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the auditorium was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited seventeen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like follow the leader and musical chairs. Her dad was planning to make plenty of ham and omelet for everyone. Seema would try to blow out all thirty-three candles on the peach and indigo cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Seema would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a beach ball! She hoped it would be a hard beach ball. Her friend Iris had said she would give her an air compressor, and her mentor always gave her cool stuff like the flash drive she gave her last year. Seema could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a blanket of mist was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her raincoat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the hill. She would have to wear a space suit instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her tunic.
She tramped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like cherry pie. Her dad was standing there with a mixing spoon in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a flutter.
"Hi Daddy!" Seema replied zestily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ham," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra boneless chicken breast. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Seema replied steadily. "Do we have the omelet ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," her father replied gingerly. "It only has to fry for seventy-three minutes."
"Okay," Seema replied diligently. "I'm gonna go to the auditorium."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some waffles in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the auditorium 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," Seema responded, as she sat down to her waffles. "Let's hang lots of silver balloons and cover the desk and the display case with yellow crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father uneasily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Darlene Nolan. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a garlic press."
"Very interesting," Seema responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a face palm. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."