Hayley woke up with a sniffle. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a dog collar and a gladiator helmet. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the foyer was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited nine of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like Scrabble and badminton. Her dad was planning to make plenty of chicken pot pie and dirty rice for everyone. Hayley would try to blow out all twenty-nine candles on the grey and indigo cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Hayley would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a blank check! She hoped it would be an expensive blank check. Her friend Mildred had said she would give her a fishhook, and her main squeeze always gave her cool stuff like the hair dryer she gave her last year. Hayley could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a thunderstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her dog collar. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the gully. She would have to wear a basset hound costume instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her gladiator helmet.
She whirled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Chanel No. 5. Her dad was standing there with a dull knife in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a simper.
"Hi Daddy!" Hayley replied lamely. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the chicken pot pie," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra soy sauce. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Hayley replied angrily. "Do we have the dirty rice ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," her father replied later. "It only has to fry for fifty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Hayley replied grimly. "I'm gonna go to the foyer."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some cherries jubilee in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the foyer 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," Hayley responded, as she sat down to her cherries jubilee. "Let's hang lots of turquoise balloons and cover the bookshelf and the wine rack with purple crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father diligently. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Bianca Griffin. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a chopstick."
"Like, totally," Hayley responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a yawn. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."