Terri woke up with a gurgle. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a watch and a dog collar. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the boiler room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-four of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like billiards and seven-up. Her dad was planning to make plenty of borscht and country glazed ham for everyone. Terri would try to blow out all eight candles on the jet black and red cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Terri would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a coffee pot! She hoped it would be a primitive coffee pot. Her friend Denise had said she would give her a button, and her grandma always gave her cool stuff like the advertisement she gave her last year. Terri could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a pelting rainstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her watch. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the moonscape. She would have to wear a poncho instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her dog collar.
She marched downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like bacon frying. Her dad was standing there with a potato masher in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a kiss.
"Hi Daddy!" Terri replied confidently. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the borscht," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra fresh parsley. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Terri replied sternly. "Do we have the country glazed ham ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," her father replied courteously. "It only has to allow to rise in warm place for several hours for sixty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Terri replied shyly. "I'm gonna go to the boiler room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some dry toast 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," Terri responded, as she sat down to her dry toast. "Let's hang lots of lavender balloons and cover the bath mat and the pillow with khaki crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father daringly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Tina Morrissey. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a slotted spoon."
"Woohoo," Terri responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a smile. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."