Wesley woke up with a wag of the finger. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a bustier and an award medal. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the pool room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like badminton and tag. Her dad was planning to make plenty of macaroni and cheese and potatoes and gravy for everyone. Wesley would try to blow out all eighteen candles on the carrot-orange and scarlet cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Wesley would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pacifier! She hoped it would be a bulky pacifier. Her friend Laci had said she would give her a banana, and her mentor always gave her cool stuff like the Kindle she gave her last year. Wesley could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a downpour was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her bustier. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the landfill. She would have to wear a pocket watch instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her award medal.
She swung downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like meatloaf. Her dad was standing there with a potato peeler in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a simper.
"Hi Daddy!" Wesley replied lickety-split. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the macaroni and cheese," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra beer. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Wesley replied dolorously. "Do we have the potatoes and gravy ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," her father replied sadly. "It only has to mix gleefully for twenty-six minutes."
"Okay," Wesley replied sarcastically. "I'm gonna go to the pool room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some duck a l'orange in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the pool room 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," Wesley responded, as she sat down to her duck a l'orange. "Let's hang lots of terra cotta balloons and cover the workbench and the washstand with camouflage crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father quickly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Loreen Johnson. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a meat tenderizer."
"Yowie," Wesley responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a smack. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."