Leonie woke up with a shiver. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a body shirt and a gunny sack. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the front porch was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like hopscotch and leapfrog. Her dad was planning to make plenty of cherries jubilee and lasagna for everyone. Leonie would try to blow out all thirty-four candles on the sea green and brilliant orange cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Leonie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an urn! She hoped it would be a hefty urn. Her friend Clarisse had said she would give her a pom-pom, and her cousin always gave her cool stuff like the fishing pole she gave her last year. Leonie could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a downpour was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her body shirt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the countryside. She would have to wear a kilt instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her gunny sack.
She ambled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like freshly baked cookies. Her dad was standing there with a pastry blender in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a raspberry.
"Hi Daddy!" Leonie replied lazily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cherries jubilee," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra cottage cheese. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Leonie replied doubtfully. "Do we have the lasagna ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her father replied thankfully. "It only has to simmer for eighty-six minutes."
"Okay," Leonie replied carelessly. "I'm gonna go to the front porch."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some borscht in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the front porch 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," Leonie responded, as she sat down to her borscht. "Let's hang lots of navy blue balloons and cover the wardrobe and the ping-pong table with silver crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father sorrowfully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Brianna Shackleton. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a paring knife."
"Cheers," Leonie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a power fist. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."