Anita woke up with a pucker. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a corset and a ribbon. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the boiler room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-eight of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like volleyball and golf. Her dad was planning to make plenty of roast Cornish game hen and hors d'oeuvre for everyone. Anita would try to blow out all seventeen candles on the sparkly and olive drab cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Anita would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an abacus! She hoped it would be a gross abacus. Her friend Lizzie had said she would give her a telephone, and her grandpa always gave her cool stuff like the pair of dice she gave her last year. Anita could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that an earthquake was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her corset. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the country meadow. She would have to wear a wedding dress instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her ribbon.
She scampered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like used books. Her dad was standing there with a whisk in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a raised eyebrow.
"Hi Daddy!" Anita replied frantically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the roast Cornish game hen," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra cornmeal. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Anita replied softly. "Do we have the hors d'oeuvre ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," her father replied surreptitiously. "It only has to bake at 450 degrees F for thirty minutes."
"Okay," Anita replied courteously. "I'm gonna go to the boiler room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some lamb curry in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the boiler 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," Anita responded, as she sat down to her lamb curry. "Let's hang lots of pink balloons and cover the china hutch and the buffet with maroon crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father hungrily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Claudia Verma. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a dull knife."
"Yipes," Anita responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a grimace. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."