Kelley woke up with a furrowed brow. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of tights and a cheerleader's uniform. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the doghouse was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-three of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like badminton and charades. Her dad was planning to make plenty of candy and duck a l'orange for everyone. Kelley would try to blow out all seven candles on the olive drab and lavender cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Kelley would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a file folder! She hoped it would be a primitive file folder. Her friend Kitten had said she would give her a washrag, and her sister always gave her cool stuff like the soccer ball she gave her last year. Kelley could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a rainstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pair of tights. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the briar patch. She would have to wear a space suit instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her cheerleader's uniform.
She crawled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like trouble. Her dad was standing there with a bare foot in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a sniffle.
"Hi Daddy!" Kelley replied wryly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the candy," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra ricotta cheese. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Kelley replied ignobly. "Do we have the duck a l'orange ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," her father replied gently. "It only has to shake for forty-three minutes."
"Okay," Kelley replied hopelessly. "I'm gonna go to the doghouse."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some chicken pot pie in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the doghouse 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," Kelley responded, as she sat down to her chicken pot pie. "Let's hang lots of ivory balloons and cover the workbench and the cash register with aquamarine crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father grandly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Eloise Gates. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a fork."
"Malarkey," Kelley responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a pucker. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."