Robin woke up with a cheer. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a tarboosh and a hearing aid. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the atrium was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-eight of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like badminton and rummy. Her dad was planning to make plenty of pancakes and enchiladas for everyone. Robin would try to blow out all twenty-four candles on the metallic red and lavender cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Robin would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a deck of cards! She hoped it would be a gooey deck of cards. Her friend Lorie had said she would give her a baseball, and her sister always gave her cool stuff like the tennis racket she gave her last year. Robin could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dense fog was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her tarboosh. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the backyard. She would have to wear a fez instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her hearing aid.
She hopped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like an ashtray. Her dad was standing there with a spatula in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a wag of the finger.
"Hi Daddy!" Robin replied awkwardly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pancakes," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra extra virgin olive oil. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Robin replied sarcastically. "Do we have the enchiladas ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her father replied sympathetically. "It only has to roast for eighteen minutes."
"Okay," Robin replied wryly. "I'm gonna go to the atrium."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some prune pudding in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the atrium 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," Robin responded, as she sat down to her prune pudding. "Let's hang lots of emerald green balloons and cover the china cabinet and the toilet with grey crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father anxiously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Millie Graziano. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a wooden spoon."
"Bleep," Robin responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a sniffle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."