Gloria woke up with a blush. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a maxi skirt and a bomber jacket. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the den was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited four of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like Snakes and Ladders and Simon Says. Her dad was planning to make plenty of roast turkey and cinnamon toast for everyone. Gloria would try to blow out all twenty-seven candles on the jet black and lime-green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Gloria would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a deck of cards! She hoped it would be an important deck of cards. Her friend Bretta had said she would give her a pipe, and her mother-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the billiard ball she gave her last year. Gloria could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a sandstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her maxi skirt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the swamp. She would have to wear a pair of ear muffs instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her bomber jacket.
She skipped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like caramel corn. Her dad was standing there with a slotted spoon in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a raspberry.
"Hi Daddy!" Gloria replied woefully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the roast turkey," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra baking powder. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Gloria replied shakily. "Do we have the cinnamon toast ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," her father replied gently. "It only has to freeze for thirteen minutes."
"Okay," Gloria replied accidentally. "I'm gonna go to the den."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some refried beans in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the den 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," Gloria responded, as she sat down to her refried beans. "Let's hang lots of orange balloons and cover the sofa and the counter with azure crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father testily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Jolene Prentice. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a cookie cutter."
"Diddly bunk," Gloria responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a honk. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."