Gloria woke up with a tear. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a jacket and a derby. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the closet was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-seven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like roulette and roulette. Her dad was planning to make plenty of tofu and fried chicken for everyone. Gloria would try to blow out all seven candles on the brilliant orange and red cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Gloria would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a spinning wheel! She hoped it would be a cardboard spinning wheel. Her friend Marisa had said she would give her a crate, and her sister-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the model airplane she gave her last year. Gloria could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hurricane was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her jacket. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the mountaintop. She would have to wear a bulletproof vest instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her derby.
She capered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like bleach. Her dad was standing there with a grater in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a wince.
"Hi Daddy!" Gloria replied crazily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the tofu," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra red wine vinegar. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Gloria replied briskly. "Do we have the fried chicken ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her father replied shyly. "It only has to fry for thirty-two minutes."
"Okay," Gloria replied later. "I'm gonna go to the closet."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some brownies in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the closet 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," Gloria responded, as she sat down to her brownies. "Let's hang lots of magenta balloons and cover the table and the crib with pink crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father awkwardly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Claudia Seagram. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a grater."
"Gee whiz," Gloria responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a snicker. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."