Gabriela woke up with a grunt. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a fur coat and a negligee. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the boiler room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-eight of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like blackjack and leapfrog. Her dad was planning to make plenty of fried chicken and cabbage rolls for everyone. Gabriela would try to blow out all fourteen candles on the lavender and crimson cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Gabriela would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an elephant tusk! She hoped it would be a dirty elephant tusk. Her friend Olive had said she would give her a hacksaw, and her sister always gave her cool stuff like the vacuum cleaner she gave her last year. Gabriela could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a sleet storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her fur coat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the plain. She would have to wear a jumpsuit instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her negligee.
She zoomed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like mountain air. Her dad was standing there with a garlic press in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a woof.
"Hi Daddy!" Gabriela replied happily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the fried chicken," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra avocado. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Gabriela replied warmly. "Do we have the cabbage rolls ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," her father replied impatiently. "It only has to heat for thirty-one minutes."
"Okay," Gabriela replied slowly. "I'm gonna go to the boiler room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some country glazed ham in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the boiler room 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," Gabriela responded, as she sat down to her country glazed ham. "Let's hang lots of olive green balloons and cover the rocking chair and the ping-pong table with olive drab crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father madly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Lucy Prince. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a Sham-Wow!."
"Holy smokes," Gabriela responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a hug. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."