Kelly woke up with a sneer. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a beehive and an earring. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the cage was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-two of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like red rover and blackjack. Her dad was planning to make plenty of chopped liver and French fries for everyone. Kelly would try to blow out all five candles on the amber and blue cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Kelly would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a candy bar! She hoped it would be an electric candy bar. Her friend Kelley had said she would give her a pinwheel, and her mommy always gave her cool stuff like the pop bottle she gave her last year. Kelly could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drought was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her beehive. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the lagoon. She would have to wear a set of braces instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her earring.
She marched downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like nachos. Her dad was standing there with a mixing spoon in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a squint.
"Hi Daddy!" Kelly replied hysterically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the chopped liver," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra dill pickles. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Kelly replied tensely. "Do we have the French fries ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her father replied oddly. "It only has to smoke for seventy-nine minutes."
"Okay," Kelly replied cruelly. "I'm gonna go to the cage."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some smoked salmon in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the cage 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," Kelly responded, as she sat down to her smoked salmon. "Let's hang lots of peach balloons and cover the end table and the carpet with aquamarine crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father crossly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Marion South. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a whisk."
"Yipes," Kelly responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a curtsey. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."