Bubbles woke up with a coo. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a Panama hat and a tinfoil hat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the garage was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eight of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like tag and billiards. Her dad was planning to make plenty of prune pudding and cinnamon toast for everyone. Bubbles would try to blow out all twenty-seven candles on the burgundy and aqua cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Bubbles would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a primrose! She hoped it would be a decrepit primrose. Her friend Carol had said she would give her a lemon, and her friend always gave her cool stuff like the paperweight she gave her last year. Bubbles could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a snowstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her Panama hat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the cliff. She would have to wear a stovepipe hat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her tinfoil hat.
She blundered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Chinese food. Her dad was standing there with a whisk in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a coo.
"Hi Daddy!" Bubbles replied hysterically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the prune pudding," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra okra. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Bubbles replied lamely. "Do we have the cinnamon toast ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," her father replied violently. "It only has to press for fifty-two minutes."
"Okay," Bubbles replied cunningly. "I'm gonna go to the garage."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some catfish stew in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the garage 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," Bubbles responded, as she sat down to her catfish stew. "Let's hang lots of periwinkle balloons and cover the windowsill and the nightstand with teal crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father speedily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Tracy Townley. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a Sham-Wow!."
"Barf," Bubbles responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with an evil eye. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."