Julieann woke up with a twitch. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a bracelet and a cummerbund. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the auditorium was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-two of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like Candy Land and shuffleboard. Her dad was planning to make plenty of cornbread and refried beans for everyone. Julieann would try to blow out all twenty candles on the white and jade cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Julieann would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pumpkin! She hoped it would be an abnormal pumpkin. Her friend Tina had said she would give her a calculator, and her main squeeze always gave her cool stuff like the baby doll she gave her last year. Julieann 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 bracelet. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the mountainside. She would have to wear a tarboosh instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her cummerbund.
She blundered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Avon. Her dad was standing there with a wooden spoon in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a coo.
"Hi Daddy!" Julieann replied truculently. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cornbread," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra yogurt. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Julieann replied hysterically. "Do we have the refried beans ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," her father replied bitterly. "It only has to refrigerate overnight for sixty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Julieann replied sorrowfully. "I'm gonna go to the auditorium."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some oatmeal in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the auditorium 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," Julieann responded, as she sat down to her oatmeal. "Let's hang lots of magenta balloons and cover the four-poster bed and the washing machine with ivory crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father wryly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Henrietta Prater. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an electric paint mixer."
"Dum de dum dum," Julieann responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a pound of the chest. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."