Paula woke up with a bow. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a scarf and a suit of armor. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the pantry was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited thirty of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like shuffleboard and Cootie. Her dad was planning to make plenty of prune pudding and Cheerios for everyone. Paula would try to blow out all twenty-three candles on the terra cotta and camouflage cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Paula would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a flag! She hoped it would be a nice flag. Her friend Anita had said she would give her a spinning wheel, and her wife always gave her cool stuff like the package she gave her last year. Paula could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dust storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her scarf. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the lakeside. She would have to wear a pair of earmuffs instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her suit of armor.
She tiptoed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like apple pie. Her dad was standing there with a chopstick in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a tear.
"Hi Daddy!" Paula replied cautiously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the prune pudding," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra diced pineapple. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Paula replied obediently. "Do we have the Cheerios ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her father replied fearlessly. "It only has to grill for sixty-six minutes."
"Okay," Paula replied diligently. "I'm gonna go to the pantry."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some hamburgers in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the pantry 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," Paula responded, as she sat down to her hamburgers. "Let's hang lots of sea green balloons and cover the rug and the sofa with camouflage crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father crazily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Joanne Zwiebel. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a mixing spoon."
"Now what?," Paula responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a hoot. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."