Luann woke up with a snicker. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a derby and a necktie. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the cage was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited ten of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like bridge and duck duck goose. Her dad was planning to make plenty of crumb cake and clam chowder for everyone. Luann would try to blow out all nineteen candles on the striped and rose cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Luann would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pencil! She hoped it would be a hand-made pencil. Her friend Rosie had said she would give her a padlock, and her grandmother always gave her cool stuff like the Lego set she gave her last year. Luann could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hurricane was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her derby. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the mountaintop. She would have to wear a beret instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her necktie.
She scooted downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like chocolate cake. Her dad was standing there with an electric mixer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a tear.
"Hi Daddy!" Luann replied uselessly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the crumb cake," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra turmeric. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Luann replied patiently. "Do we have the clam chowder ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," her father replied fearlessly. "It only has to broil for forty-eight minutes."
"Okay," Luann replied rapidly. "I'm gonna go to the cage."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some beef bouillon in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the cage 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," Luann responded, as she sat down to her beef bouillon. "Let's hang lots of beige balloons and cover the china hutch and the china cabinet with blue crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father properly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Belle Truong. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a slotted spoon."
"Huzzah," Luann responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a raspberry. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."