Virginia woke up with a hoot. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a gorilla suit and a tattoo. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the library was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like marbles and volleyball. Her mom was planning to make plenty of smoked salmon and crumb cake for everyone. Virginia would try to blow out all twenty-six candles on the grey and khaki cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Virginia would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a Barbie doll! She hoped it would be an unusual Barbie doll. Her friend Josh had said he would give her a mop, and her friend always gave her cool stuff like the Big Gulp she gave her last year. Virginia could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a driving rain was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her gorilla suit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the buffalo wallow. She would have to wear a tutu instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her tattoo.
She whirled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like cherry pie. Her mom was standing there with a bare foot in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a blush.
"Hi Mommy!" Virginia replied madly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the smoked salmon," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra poppy seeds. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Virginia replied dolorously. "Do we have the crumb cake ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," her mother replied curiously. "It only has to refrigerate overnight for sixty-eight minutes."
"Okay," Virginia replied dreamily. "I'm gonna go to the library."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some falafel in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the library first?" she begged.
"It looks just like it always does," her mother replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Virginia responded, as she sat down to her falafel. "Let's hang lots of pink balloons and cover the buffet and the file cabinet with scarlet crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother zestily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Abigail Fish. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a fork."
"Phew," Virginia responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a belch. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."