Meredith woke up with a pound of the chest. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a bridal gown and a cap. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the patio was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-eight of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like treasure hunt and Rummy. Her dad was planning to make plenty of succotash and smoked salmon for everyone. Meredith would try to blow out all twenty-nine candles on the sea green and brilliant orange cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Meredith would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an air horn! She hoped it would be a cardboard air horn. Her friend Stella had said she would give her a dart, and her dad always gave her cool stuff like the crate she gave her last year. Meredith could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a gale was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her bridal gown. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the mountainside. She would have to wear a bracelet instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her cap.
She galloped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Christian Dior. Her dad was standing there with an ice pick in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a grimace.
"Hi Daddy!" Meredith replied awkwardly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the succotash," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra bamboo shoots. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Meredith replied menacingly. "Do we have the smoked salmon ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her father replied ferociously. "It only has to spoon into container for thirty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Meredith replied sorrowfully. "I'm gonna go to the patio."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some blueberry pie in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the patio 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," Meredith responded, as she sat down to her blueberry pie. "Let's hang lots of jade balloons and cover the stairway and the bath mat with peach crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father primly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Sierra Woodruff. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a dish cloth."
"Zap," Meredith responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a clenched fist. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."