Bernadette woke up with a grimace. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a gold medal and a gunny sack. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the master bedroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-five of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like doctor and battleship. Her dad was planning to make plenty of tofu and macaroni and cheese for everyone. Bernadette would try to blow out all twenty-seven candles on the polka dotted and lavender cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Bernadette would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pumpkin! She hoped it would be a nice pumpkin. Her friend Leslie had said she would give her a comb, and her cousin always gave her cool stuff like the can of beans she gave her last year. Bernadette 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 gold medal. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the steppe. She would have to wear a coonskin hat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her gunny sack.
She breezed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Avon. Her dad was standing there with an electric mixer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a guffaw.
"Hi Daddy!" Bernadette replied dubiously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the tofu," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra egg noodles. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Bernadette replied neatly. "Do we have the macaroni and cheese ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," her father replied greedily. "It only has to heat for fifteen minutes."
"Okay," Bernadette replied menacingly. "I'm gonna go to the master bedroom."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some spaghetti in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the master bedroom 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," Bernadette responded, as she sat down to her spaghetti. "Let's hang lots of chocolate brown balloons and cover the china cabinet and the bookshelf with hot pink crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father blissfully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Ursula Sheridan. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a blender."
"Weird," Bernadette responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a sigh. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."