Valentina woke up with a backward glance. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a diamond bracelet and an 'I'm with Stupid' shirt. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the hall was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eleven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like trivia and chess. Her dad was planning to make plenty of lamb curry and blueberry pie for everyone. Valentina would try to blow out all fourteen candles on the turquoise and aqua cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Valentina would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pair of binoculars! She hoped it would be an odd pair of binoculars. Her friend Griselda had said she would give her a church key, and her girlfriend always gave her cool stuff like the candy bar she gave her last year. Valentina could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a blizzard was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her diamond bracelet. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the prairie. She would have to wear a poodle skirt instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her 'I'm with Stupid' shirt.
She scampered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a pot of stew. Her dad was standing there with a chopstick in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a caress.
"Hi Daddy!" Valentina replied calmly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the lamb curry," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra fresh basil. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Valentina replied sternly. "Do we have the blueberry pie ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her father replied cunningly. "It only has to scramble for thirteen minutes."
"Okay," Valentina replied gruffly. "I'm gonna go to the hall."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some scrambled eggs in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the hall 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," Valentina responded, as she sat down to her scrambled eggs. "Let's hang lots of striped balloons and cover the wooden crate and the cash register with silver crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father shakily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Tiffany Alexander. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a piece of cheesecloth."
"Holy smokes," Valentina 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."