Madelyn woke up with a belly laugh. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a mortarboard and a pair of galoshes. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the linen closet was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited fourteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like badminton and checkers. Her dad was planning to make plenty of popcorn and tacos for everyone. Madelyn would try to blow out all fifteen candles on the turquoise and yellow cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Madelyn would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a can of soup! She hoped it would be an amazing can of soup. Her friend Shannon had said she would give her an Egyptian mummy, and her grandpa always gave her cool stuff like the bird bath she gave her last year. Madelyn could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a rainstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her mortarboard. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the creek. She would have to wear a tam o'shanter instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of galoshes.
She made a beeline downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like eucalyptus. Her dad was standing there with a potato peeler in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a shiver.
"Hi Daddy!" Madelyn replied gruffly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the popcorn," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra capers. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Madelyn replied offhandedly. "Do we have the tacos ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," her father replied grudgingly. "It only has to sauté for twenty-three minutes."
"Okay," Madelyn replied irritably. "I'm gonna go to the linen closet."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some roast turkey in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the linen closet 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," Madelyn responded, as she sat down to her roast turkey. "Let's hang lots of camouflage balloons and cover the water bed and the wooden crate with khaki crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father daintily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Cassandra Bishop. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a corkscrew."
"Holy frijole," Madelyn responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with an evil eye. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."