Vanessa woke up with a yawn. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a cloak and a visor. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the front porch was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eighteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like Parcheesi and volleyball. Her dad was planning to make plenty of strawberry shortcake and dirty rice for everyone. Vanessa would try to blow out all eighteen candles on the mauve and pea green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Vanessa would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a bag of ice! She hoped it would be a smumpy bag of ice. Her friend Gabriela had said she would give her a broom, and her cousin always gave her cool stuff like the paperclip she gave her last year. Vanessa could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dust storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her cloak. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the village. She would have to wear a cap instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her visor.
She rolled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Max Factor. Her dad was standing there with a meat tenderizer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a flinch.
"Hi Daddy!" Vanessa replied pitifully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the strawberry shortcake," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra water chestnuts. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Vanessa replied dolorously. "Do we have the dirty rice ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her father replied pityingly. "It only has to boil for eighty-two minutes."
"Okay," Vanessa replied haughtily. "I'm gonna go to the front porch."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some tacos in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the front 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," Vanessa responded, as she sat down to her tacos. "Let's hang lots of hot pink balloons and cover the end table and the workbench with orange crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father dubiously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Chris Shaw. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a spoon."
"Ho ho," Vanessa responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a hoot. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."