Julia woke up with a smile. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in an Armani suit and a badge. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the porch was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-eight of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like bridge and Scrabble. Her dad was planning to make plenty of tofu and lasagna for everyone. Julia would try to blow out all twenty-seven candles on the silver and ivory cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Julia would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a church key! She hoped it would be a ridged church key. Her friend Dusty had said she would give her a fishing rod, and her wife always gave her cool stuff like the stuffed owl she gave her last year. Julia could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a pall of doom was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her Armani suit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the path. She would have to wear a pair of booties instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her badge.
She galloped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like gingersnaps. Her dad was standing there with a cookie cutter in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a stiff upper lip.
"Hi Daddy!" Julia replied truculently. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the tofu," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra half and half. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Julia replied lightly. "Do we have the lasagna ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," her father replied strictly. "It only has to melt for seventy-eight minutes."
"Okay," Julia replied warmly. "I'm gonna go to the porch."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some chicken chow mein in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the porch 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," Julia responded, as she sat down to her chicken chow mein. "Let's hang lots of olive drab balloons and cover the dresser and the washing machine with metallic red crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father carefully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Camille Dinklefloss. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a melon baller."
"Aaack," Julia responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a face palm. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."