Marvella woke up with a kiss. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a cocktail dress and a turtleneck. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the kitchen was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited two of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like Rummy and follow the leader. Her dad was planning to make plenty of corn on the cob and catfish stew for everyone. Marvella would try to blow out all fourteen candles on the emerald green and sea green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Marvella would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a piece of paper! She hoped it would be a sophisticated piece of paper. Her friend Sheila had said she would give her a piece of paper, and her fiancée always gave her cool stuff like the hacksaw she gave her last year. Marvella could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a pelting rainstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her cocktail dress. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the arroyo. She would have to wear a Stetson hat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her turtleneck.
She clambered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like oregano. Her dad was standing there with a meat tenderizer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a hug.
"Hi Daddy!" Marvella replied coolly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the corn on the cob," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra ground pork. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Marvella replied caustically. "Do we have the catfish stew ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," her father replied bravely. "It only has to blanch for eleven minutes."
"Okay," Marvella replied sympathetically. "I'm gonna go to the kitchen."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some egg drop soup in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the kitchen 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," Marvella responded, as she sat down to her egg drop soup. "Let's hang lots of yellow balloons and cover the canopy bed and the bookcase with grey crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father crankily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Marina Roeber. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a cookie cutter."
"Voilà," Marvella responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a tear. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."