Michele woke up with a wink. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of ear muffs and a floppy hat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the solarium was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited five of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like Scrabble and Scrabble. Her dad was planning to make plenty of crab rangoon and spaghetti for everyone. Michele would try to blow out all thirty-five candles on the fuchsia and tan cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Michele would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a bird feeder! She hoped it would be an original bird feeder. Her friend Emma had said she would give her a bag of popcorn, and her girlfriend always gave her cool stuff like the computer she gave her last year. Michele could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a bit of precipitation was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pair of ear muffs. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the canyon. She would have to wear a headband instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her floppy hat.
She bounded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Christian Dior. Her dad was standing there with a mixing spoon in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a twitch.
"Hi Daddy!" Michele replied openly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the crab rangoon," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra black olives. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Michele replied deliberately. "Do we have the spaghetti ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her father replied jokingly. "It only has to place on serving dish for seven minutes."
"Okay," Michele replied majestically. "I'm gonna go to the solarium."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some clam chowder in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the solarium 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," Michele responded, as she sat down to her clam chowder. "Let's hang lots of emerald green balloons and cover the rocking chair and the nightstand with striped crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father trustingly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Gertrude Wang. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an electric mixer."
"Land's sakes," Michele responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a belch. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."