Greta 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 pair of sandals and a dog collar. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the cage was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like checkers and jump rope. Her dad was planning to make plenty of bread and butter and moo goo gai pan for everyone. Greta would try to blow out all eight candles on the sparkly and sea green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Greta would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a suitcase! She hoped it would be an autographed suitcase. Her friend Elvira had said she would give her a jar of olives, and her mom always gave her cool stuff like the button she gave her last year. Greta could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a rainstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pair of sandals. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the circus tent. She would have to wear a balaclava instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her dog collar.
She zoomed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a hospital. Her dad was standing there with a cookie cutter in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a face palm.
"Hi Daddy!" Greta replied sorrowfully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the bread and butter," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra sesame seeds. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Greta replied oddly. "Do we have the moo goo gai pan ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," her father replied excitedly. "It only has to toast for forty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Greta replied repeatedly. "I'm gonna go to the cage."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some sweet potatoes 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," Greta responded, as she sat down to her sweet potatoes. "Let's hang lots of terra cotta balloons and cover the footstool and the futon with teal crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father solemnly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Nakisha Diamond. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a corkscrew."
"Geez Louise," Greta responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a snigger. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."