Bernadette woke up with a grin. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of trousers and a fur coat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the bedroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-one of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like treasure hunt and Parcheesi. Her dad was planning to make plenty of omelet and pie a la mode for everyone. Bernadette would try to blow out all seventeen candles on the hot pink and aqua cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Bernadette would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a compass! She hoped it would be an electric compass. Her friend Claudia had said she would give her a telephone book, and her grandma always gave her cool stuff like the billiard ball she gave her last year. Bernadette could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a humid day was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pair of trousers. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the forest. She would have to wear a business suit instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her fur coat.
She dove downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a barn. Her dad was standing there with a melon baller in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a fist bump.
"Hi Daddy!" Bernadette replied testily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the omelet," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra spaghetti noodles. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Bernadette replied lickety-split. "Do we have the pie a la mode ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her father replied positively. "It only has to fry for thirty-one minutes."
"Okay," Bernadette replied testily. "I'm gonna go to the bedroom."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some blueberry pie in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the 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 blueberry pie. "Let's hang lots of teal balloons and cover the bookshelf and the hatstand with violet crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father angrily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Gilda Armstrong. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a Sham-Wow!."
"Good grief," Bernadette responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a wink. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."