Paige woke up with a hug. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of jackboots and a party hat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the basement was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited seventeen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like duck duck goose and badminton. Her dad was planning to make plenty of hamburgers and bonbons for everyone. Paige would try to blow out all eight candles on the pea green and brown cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Paige would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a chess set! She hoped it would be a large chess set. Her friend Joan had said she would give her a gun, and her wife always gave her cool stuff like the comic book she gave her last year. Paige could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dust storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pair of jackboots. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the neighborhood. She would have to wear a ribbon instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her party hat.
She scurried downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like tacos. Her dad was standing there with a spatula in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a wag of the finger.
"Hi Daddy!" Paige replied fervently. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the hamburgers," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra beef broth. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Paige replied sleepily. "Do we have the bonbons ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," her father replied proudly. "It only has to smoke for forty-four minutes."
"Okay," Paige replied crazily. "I'm gonna go to the basement."
"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 basement 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," Paige responded, as she sat down to her enchiladas. "Let's hang lots of chartreuse balloons and cover the ironing board and the hamper with periwinkle crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father viciously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Francie Houston. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a cheesecloth."
"Ay chihuahua," Paige responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a finger gun. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."