April woke up with a pound of the chest. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a belt buckle and a pair of roller skates. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the pantry was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-four of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like hide and seek and cribbage. Her dad was planning to make plenty of doughnuts and crab rangoon for everyone. April would try to blow out all twenty candles on the brilliant orange and chartreuse cake. While the guests were eating their cake, April would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a daisy! She hoped it would be an unusual daisy. Her friend Fran had said she would give her a coin, and her fiancée always gave her cool stuff like the church key she gave her last year. April could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a humid day was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her belt buckle. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the plateau. She would have to wear a girdle instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of roller skates.
She strode downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like road kill. Her dad was standing there with a cookie cutter in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a beam.
"Hi Daddy!" April replied suddenly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the doughnuts," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra sweet pickles. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," April replied uneasily. "Do we have the crab rangoon ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her father replied sternly. "It only has to boil for thirty-five minutes."
"Okay," April replied hysterically. "I'm gonna go to the pantry."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some fried okra 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," April responded, as she sat down to her fried okra. "Let's hang lots of brilliant orange balloons and cover the workbench and the footstool with camouflage crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father coolly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Hagit Yager. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a cheesecloth."
"LOL," April responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a curtsey. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."