Ava woke up with a clenched fist. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a lab coat and a coat of mail. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the boiler room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited thirteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like battleship and Cootie. Her dad was planning to make plenty of corn on the cob and squash blossom soup for everyone. Ava would try to blow out all twenty-six candles on the chartreuse and hot pink cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Ava would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a can of shaving cream! She hoped it would be a mechanical can of shaving cream. Her friend Loreen had said she would give her a coffee pot, and her sister always gave her cool stuff like the can of soup she gave her last year. Ava could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a gale was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her lab coat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the peninsula. She would have to wear a bomber jacket instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her coat of mail.
She lurched downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Givenchy. Her dad was standing there with a strainer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a kiss.
"Hi Daddy!" Ava replied noisily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the corn on the cob," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra pineapple. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Ava replied nimbly. "Do we have the squash blossom soup ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," her father replied anxiously. "It only has to scramble for eighty-eight minutes."
"Okay," Ava replied pitifully. "I'm gonna go to the boiler room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some catfish stew in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the boiler 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," Ava responded, as she sat down to her catfish stew. "Let's hang lots of sparkly balloons and cover the piano and the cushion with green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father sagely. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Kyra Chang. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a spatula."
"Granular," Ava responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a giggle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."