Patty woke up with a giggle. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pith helmet and a skeleton costume. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the foyer was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited three of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like pool and shuffleboard. Her dad was planning to make plenty of lobster bisque and sauerkraut for everyone. Patty would try to blow out all sixteen candles on the turquoise and khaki cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Patty would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an antenna! She hoped it would be a cardboard antenna. Her friend Mama had said she would give her a necklace, and her grandma always gave her cool stuff like the chair she gave her last year. Patty could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that an earthquake was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pith helmet. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the veld. She would have to wear a sombrero instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her skeleton costume.
She tumbled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like chocolate. Her dad was standing there with a candy thermometer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a laugh.
"Hi Daddy!" Patty replied humbly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the lobster bisque," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra garlic. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Patty replied needlessly. "Do we have the sauerkraut ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," her father replied tenderly. "It only has to steam for seventy-four minutes."
"Okay," Patty replied obediently. "I'm gonna go to the foyer."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some fried eggs in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the foyer 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," Patty responded, as she sat down to her fried eggs. "Let's hang lots of orange balloons and cover the safe and the bunk bed with pea green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father oddly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Emmeline Al-Ghareeb. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a garlic press."
"Righto," Patty responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a cheer. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."