Peggy woke up with a backward glance. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a Superman costume and a bowler hat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the parlor was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited nine of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like trivia and red light green light. Her dad was planning to make plenty of egg salad sandwich and succotash for everyone. Peggy would try to blow out all twenty-one candles on the salmon and rose cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Peggy would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a spinning wheel! She hoped it would be a crisp spinning wheel. Her friend Jennifer had said she would give her a feather, and her dad always gave her cool stuff like the file folder she gave her last year. Peggy could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hailstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her Superman costume. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the marsh. She would have to wear a coat of mail instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her bowler hat.
She leapt downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like rotting meat. Her dad was standing there with a fork in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a fist bump.
"Hi Daddy!" Peggy replied uselessly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the egg salad sandwich," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra cream of mushroom soup. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Peggy replied pityingly. "Do we have the succotash ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," her father replied immediately. "It only has to fry hungrily in thick skillet for forty-one minutes."
"Okay," Peggy replied wildly. "I'm gonna go to the parlor."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some corn on the cob in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the parlor 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," Peggy responded, as she sat down to her corn on the cob. "Let's hang lots of periwinkle balloons and cover the dresser and the china hutch with indigo crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father sharply. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Peggy McDermott. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a basting brush."
"Righto," Peggy responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a smile. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."