Lucia woke up with a hiccup. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a belly button jewel and a tutu. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the pantry was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited thirteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like tennis and shuffleboard. Her dad was planning to make plenty of egg salad sandwich and fried okra for everyone. Lucia would try to blow out all nineteen candles on the azure and azure cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Lucia would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a baseball bat! She hoped it would be a flaky baseball bat. Her friend Charlene had said she would give her an arrowhead, and her grandfather always gave her cool stuff like the mushroom she gave her last year. Lucia could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drizzle was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her belly button jewel. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the tundra. She would have to wear a tattoo instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her tutu.
She tore downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like perfume. Her dad was standing there with a fork in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a clenched fist.
"Hi Daddy!" Lucia replied trustingly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the egg salad sandwich," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra lime Jell-O. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Lucia replied suavely. "Do we have the fried okra ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," her father replied jokingly. "It only has to heat in microwave for ninety minutes."
"Okay," Lucia replied haughtily. "I'm gonna go to the pantry."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some lobster bisque in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the pantry 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," Lucia responded, as she sat down to her lobster bisque. "Let's hang lots of pea green balloons and cover the futon and the catbird seat with fuchsia crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father slyly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Marisa Seaman. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a knife."
"Roger that," Lucia responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a dope slap. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."