Jean 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 midi skirt and a gorilla suit. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the dining room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited seventeen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like Parcheesi and Simon Says. Her dad was planning to make plenty of catfish stew and pancakes for everyone. Jean would try to blow out all eleven candles on the brilliant orange and amber cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Jean would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an accordion! She hoped it would be a disgusting accordion. Her friend Fifi had said she would give her a pencil, and her main squeeze always gave her cool stuff like the rubber chicken she gave her last year. Jean 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 midi skirt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the savanna. She would have to wear a flak jacket instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her gorilla suit.
She sneaked downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like pepper. Her dad was standing there with a piece of cheesecloth in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a twitch.
"Hi Daddy!" Jean replied wearily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the catfish stew," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra turkey. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Jean replied flightily. "Do we have the pancakes ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," her father replied daringly. "It only has to place on serving dish for seventy-nine minutes."
"Okay," Jean replied fearfully. "I'm gonna go to the dining room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some fondue in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the dining 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," Jean responded, as she sat down to her fondue. "Let's hang lots of ivory balloons and cover the file cabinet and the chest of drawers with pea green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father positively. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Sophia Koch. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a melon baller."
"Oh please," Jean responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a blush. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."