Agnes woke up with a wag of the finger. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a bicycle helmet and a belly button jewel. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the living room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited ten of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like marbles and trivia. Her dad was planning to make plenty of blueberry pie and squash blossom soup for everyone. Agnes would try to blow out all eighteen candles on the tan and burgundy cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Agnes would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a Van Gogh! She hoped it would be a ridiculous Van Gogh. Her friend Karen had said she would give her a Barbie doll, and her wife always gave her cool stuff like the daisy she gave her last year. Agnes could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a downpour was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her bicycle helmet. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the country meadow. She would have to wear a hoop skirt instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her belly button jewel.
She tramped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like tobacco. Her dad was standing there with a meat tenderizer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a grimace.
"Hi Daddy!" Agnes replied stealthily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the blueberry pie," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra almond paste. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Agnes replied fiercely. "Do we have the squash blossom soup ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her father replied coolly. "It only has to poach lightly for forty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Agnes replied stealthily. "I'm gonna go to the living room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some smoked salmon in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the living room 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," Agnes responded, as she sat down to her smoked salmon. "Let's hang lots of tan balloons and cover the safe and the china hutch with burgundy crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father frantically. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Latrina Orman. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an oven mitt."
"Criminy," Agnes responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a wince. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."