Georgina woke up with a grin. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a business suit and an overcoat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the dining room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-nine of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like hide and seek and solitaire. Her dad was planning to make plenty of dry toast and chicken soup for everyone. Georgina would try to blow out all five candles on the periwinkle and brilliant orange cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Georgina would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a stuffed owl! She hoped it would be a speckled stuffed owl. Her friend Georgina had said she would give her a brush, and her fiancée always gave her cool stuff like the calculator she gave her last year. Georgina 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 business suit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the crime scene. She would have to wear a pair of glasses instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her overcoat.
She hopped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like moldy leftovers. Her dad was standing there with a whisk in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a shiver.
"Hi Daddy!" Georgina replied admiringly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the dry toast," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra bacon fat. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Georgina replied briskly. "Do we have the chicken soup ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her father replied diligently. "It only has to blanch for sixty-six minutes."
"Okay," Georgina replied defiantly. "I'm gonna go to the dining room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some tacos in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the dining 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," Georgina responded, as she sat down to her tacos. "Let's hang lots of metallic red balloons and cover the pedestal and the piano with chartreuse crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father madly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Meredith Lippman. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a fork."
"Uh-oh," Georgina responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a dope slap. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."