Cinderella woke up with a beam. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pith helmet and a set of scrubs. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the porch was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eighteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like checkers and red rover. Her dad was planning to make plenty of cabbage rolls and prime rib for everyone. Cinderella would try to blow out all nine candles on the olive drab and navy blue cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Cinderella would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a saddle! She hoped it would be a valuable saddle. Her friend Roberta had said she would give her a pop bottle, and her friend always gave her cool stuff like the bowl she gave her last year. Cinderella could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a period of warm weather was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pith helmet. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the creek. She would have to wear a turtleneck instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her set of scrubs.
She dove downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like gingersnaps. Her dad was standing there with a meat tenderizer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a wince.
"Hi Daddy!" Cinderella replied sweetly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cabbage rolls," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra ground mustard. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Cinderella replied quietly. "Do we have the prime rib ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," her father replied crazily. "It only has to blanch for sixty-five minutes."
"Okay," Cinderella replied sharply. "I'm gonna go to the porch."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some roast Cornish game hen in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the porch 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," Cinderella responded, as she sat down to her roast Cornish game hen. "Let's hang lots of black balloons and cover the fainting couch and the overstuffed chair with orange crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father bravely. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Carla Stephens. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a wooden spoon."
"I'm so sure," Cinderella 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."