Janet woke up with a backward glance. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a gorilla suit and a coat of mail. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the billiard room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like Monopoly and poker. Her dad was planning to make plenty of lobster bisque and macaroni for everyone. Janet would try to blow out all eighteen candles on the yellow and polka dotted cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Janet would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a flower! She hoped it would be an important flower. Her friend Stephanie had said she would give her an artificial flower, and her mommy always gave her cool stuff like the toolbox she gave her last year. Janet 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 gorilla suit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the island. She would have to wear a romper instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her coat of mail.
She galloped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like cherry blossoms. Her dad was standing there with a spatula in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a hoot.
"Hi Daddy!" Janet replied accidentally. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the lobster bisque," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra pomegranate juice. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Janet replied excitedly. "Do we have the macaroni ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," her father replied stealthily. "It only has to fry for thirteen minutes."
"Okay," Janet replied brashly. "I'm gonna go to the billiard room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some tofu in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the billiard 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," Janet responded, as she sat down to her tofu. "Let's hang lots of grey balloons and cover the stairway and the hammock with silver crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father unabashedly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Celeste Bertrand. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a wooden spoon."
"Cowabunga," Janet responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a tear. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."