Dagmar woke up with a smack. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a skeleton costume and a cloak. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the library was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited thirteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like golf and bridge. Her dad was planning to make plenty of refried beans and blueberry pie for everyone. Dagmar would try to blow out all four candles on the violet and teal cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Dagmar would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a spool of thread! She hoped it would be a huge spool of thread. Her friend Stella had said she would give her a grease gun, and her sister-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the coin she gave her last year. Dagmar could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a typhoon was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her skeleton costume. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the valley. She would have to wear a dunce cap instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her cloak.
She sallied forth downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Christian Dior. Her dad was standing there with a potato peeler in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a backward glance.
"Hi Daddy!" Dagmar replied breathlessly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the refried beans," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra trout. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Dagmar replied sorrowfully. "Do we have the blueberry pie ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," her father replied firmly. "It only has to toast for fifty-six minutes."
"Okay," Dagmar replied wildly. "I'm gonna go to the library."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some omelet in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the library 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," Dagmar responded, as she sat down to her omelet. "Let's hang lots of ivory balloons and cover the settee and the bath mat with amber crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father gracefully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Bianca Franz. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a dull knife."
"Fie," Dagmar responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a cackle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."