Mary woke up with a kiss. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a cap and a big red rose. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the tool shed was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-three of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like marbles and backgammon. Her dad was planning to make plenty of pot roast and dry toast for everyone. Mary would try to blow out all twenty-six candles on the camouflage and azure cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Mary would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a curling iron! She hoped it would be a striped curling iron. Her friend Krista had said she would give her a pillow, and her mommy always gave her cool stuff like the African violet she gave her last year. Mary could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a sandstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her cap. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the plain. She would have to wear a pair of Oxfords instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her big red rose.
She dashed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Old Spice. Her dad was standing there with an electric paint mixer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a hiccup.
"Hi Daddy!" Mary replied suspiciously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pot roast," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra beef sirloin tips. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Mary replied breathlessly. "Do we have the dry toast ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," her father replied bravely. "It only has to toast for forty-six minutes."
"Okay," Mary replied furiously. "I'm gonna go to the tool shed."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some crumb cake in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the tool shed 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," Mary responded, as she sat down to her crumb cake. "Let's hang lots of chartreuse balloons and cover the futon and the pillow with red crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father defiantly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Alison Naipaul. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a blender."
"My land," Mary 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."