Samantha woke up with a laugh. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a fig leaf and a Superman costume. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the bathroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like badminton and marbles. Her dad was planning to make plenty of beef bouillon and sweet potatoes for everyone. Samantha would try to blow out all twenty-three candles on the jet black and khaki cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Samantha would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a towel! She hoped it would be a striking towel. Her friend Alexis had said she would give her a pair of dice, and her grandfather always gave her cool stuff like the bucket she gave her last year. Samantha could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a driving rain was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her fig leaf. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the island. She would have to wear a bowler hat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her Superman costume.
She zoomed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like sour milk. Her dad was standing there with an ice pick in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a gurgle.
"Hi Daddy!" Samantha replied hysterically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the beef bouillon," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra cod fillets. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Samantha replied tearfully. "Do we have the sweet potatoes ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," her father replied languidly. "It only has to bake at 450 degrees F for eighty minutes."
"Okay," Samantha replied smoothly. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some scrambled eggs in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the bathroom 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," Samantha responded, as she sat down to her scrambled eggs. "Let's hang lots of black balloons and cover the rug and the bed with golden crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father sorrowfully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Cindy Bergstrom. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a meat tenderizer."
"Yippee," Samantha 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."