Ida woke up with a pound of the chest. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pocket watch and a pocket watch. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the tool shed was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited sixteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like croquet and duck duck goose. Her dad was planning to make plenty of scrambled eggs and steak for everyone. Ida would try to blow out all twenty-eight candles on the jade and chartreuse cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Ida would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a saw! She hoped it would be a puzzling saw. Her friend Kate had said she would give her a telephone book, and her mother-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the rope she gave her last year. Ida 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 pocket watch. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the path. She would have to wear a bowler hat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pocket watch.
She skipped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a new car. Her dad was standing there with a corkscrew in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a jeer.
"Hi Daddy!" Ida replied thoughtfully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the scrambled eggs," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra mayonnaise. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Ida replied anxiously. "Do we have the steak ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," her father replied charmingly. "It only has to microwave for sixteen minutes."
"Okay," Ida replied neatly. "I'm gonna go to the tool shed."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some cookies in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the tool shed 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," Ida responded, as she sat down to her cookies. "Let's hang lots of metallic red balloons and cover the hatstand and the table with yellow crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father coolly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Linda Rice. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an ice pick."
"Hmm," Ida responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a smile. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."