Leonie woke up with a flutter. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a vest and a tuxedo. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the garage was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-four of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like hide and seek and treasure hunt. Her dad was planning to make plenty of cabbage rolls and sweet potatoes for everyone. Leonie would try to blow out all twenty-nine candles on the lime-green and navy blue cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Leonie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a box! She hoped it would be a brightly-colored box. Her friend Antoinette had said she would give her a biscuit, and her cousin always gave her cool stuff like the necklace she gave her last year. Leonie could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a bit of precipitation was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her vest. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the glen. She would have to wear a hearing aid instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her tuxedo.
She sauntered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like cherry pie. Her dad was standing there with a paring knife in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a twitch.
"Hi Daddy!" Leonie replied curiously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cabbage rolls," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra sweet pickle relish. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Leonie replied happily. "Do we have the sweet potatoes ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her father replied suddenly. "It only has to bake at 450 degrees F for forty-eight minutes."
"Okay," Leonie replied urgently. "I'm gonna go to the garage."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some roast beef in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the garage 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," Leonie responded, as she sat down to her roast beef. "Let's hang lots of polka dotted balloons and cover the crib and the wine rack with fuchsia crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father boisterously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Maggie McGill. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a paring knife."
"Ahem," Leonie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a crow. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."