Valentina woke up with a titter. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a towel and a rain coat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the master bathroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited fourteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like roulette and seven-up. Her mom was planning to make plenty of enchiladas and chocolate-covered ants for everyone. Valentina would try to blow out all twenty-nine candles on the navy blue and yellow cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Valentina would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pom-pom! She hoped it would be an archaic pom-pom. Her friend Alberto had said he would give her a microscope, and her grandmother always gave her cool stuff like the remote control she gave her last year. Valentina could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a period of warm weather was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her towel. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the jungle. She would have to wear a bedsheet instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her rain coat.
She paraded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a stable. Her mom was standing there with a paring knife in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a shrug.
"Hi Mommy!" Valentina replied immediately. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the enchiladas," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra white wine. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Valentina replied despondently. "Do we have the chocolate-covered ants ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," her mother replied despondently. "It only has to spread into container for seventy-one minutes."
"Okay," Valentina replied reluctantly. "I'm gonna go to the master bathroom."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some steak in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the master bathroom first?" she begged.
"It looks just like it always does," her mother replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Valentina responded, as she sat down to her steak. "Let's hang lots of emerald green balloons and cover the chest of drawers and the table with grey crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother dolorously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Claire Rodriguez. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a whisk."
"Never," Valentina responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a smirk. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."