Katy woke up with a chuckle. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a lab coat and a corsage. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the garage was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like hopscotch and red rover. Her dad was planning to make plenty of dirty rice and tuna casserole for everyone. Katy would try to blow out all twenty-nine candles on the forest green and khaki cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Katy would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a compass! She hoped it would be a small compass. Her friend Maggie had said she would give her a pink flamingo, and her aunt always gave her cool stuff like the daisy she gave her last year. Katy could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drizzle was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her lab coat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the bog. She would have to wear a pair of trousers instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her corsage.
She pranced downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like cedar. Her dad was standing there with a melon baller in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a jeer.
"Hi Daddy!" Katy replied awkwardly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the dirty rice," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra black olives. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Katy replied cheerfully. "Do we have the tuna casserole ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," her father replied recklessly. "It only has to toast for forty-eight minutes."
"Okay," Katy replied delicately. "I'm gonna go to the garage."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some wienerschnitzel in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the garage 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," Katy responded, as she sat down to her wienerschnitzel. "Let's hang lots of golden balloons and cover the pedestal and the water bed with amber crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father sourly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Sydney Ferrari. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a meat tenderizer."
"Please," Katy responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a flinch. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."