Matilda woke up with a cackle. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of Reeboks and a set of pink foam curlers. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the kitchen was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited nine of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like dominos and red light green light. Her dad was planning to make plenty of catfish stew and sauerkraut for everyone. Matilda would try to blow out all twenty-two candles on the brilliant orange and red cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Matilda would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a flash drive! She hoped it would be a decrepit flash drive. Her friend Betsy had said she would give her a rock, and her friend always gave her cool stuff like the piano she gave her last year. Matilda 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 pair of Reeboks. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the circus tent. She would have to wear a bracelet instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her set of pink foam curlers.
She jumped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like pumpkin pie. Her dad was standing there with a fork in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a giggle.
"Hi Daddy!" Matilda replied openly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the catfish stew," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra Canadian bacon. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Matilda replied sagely. "Do we have the sauerkraut ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her father replied blindly. "It only has to heat for twenty-six minutes."
"Okay," Matilda replied crossly. "I'm gonna go to the kitchen."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some egg salad sandwich in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the kitchen 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," Matilda responded, as she sat down to her egg salad sandwich. "Let's hang lots of blue balloons and cover the crib and the wardrobe with chocolate brown crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father languidly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Huong Vidmar. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a garlic press."
"Whoa baby," Matilda responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a woof. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."