Betsy 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 jumper and a corsage. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the salon was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-nine of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like rummy and duck duck goose. Her dad was planning to make plenty of candy and roast Cornish game hen for everyone. Betsy would try to blow out all three candles on the olive drab and purple cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Betsy would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an ingot of plutonium! She hoped it would be a cardboard ingot of plutonium. Her friend Gilda had said she would give her a tube of glue, and her friend always gave her cool stuff like the clothespin she gave her last year. Betsy could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dust storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her jumper. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the mountain. She would have to wear a name tag instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her corsage.
She waded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like biscuits. Her dad was standing there with a wooden spoon in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a coo.
"Hi Daddy!" Betsy replied hastily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the candy," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra ground pork. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Betsy replied queerly. "Do we have the roast Cornish game hen ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," her father replied furiously. "It only has to sauté for twenty-four minutes."
"Okay," Betsy replied brashly. "I'm gonna go to the salon."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some French fries in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the salon 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," Betsy responded, as she sat down to her French fries. "Let's hang lots of salmon balloons and cover the bookshelf and the wine rack with crimson crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father clumsily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Dierdre Burt. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an egg cutter."
"Excellent," Betsy 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."