Hallie woke up with a snuffle. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of cowboy boots and a set of pink foam curlers. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the basement was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited nine of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like tennis and leapfrog. Her dad was planning to make plenty of strawberry shortcake and pretzels for everyone. Hallie would try to blow out all twenty-nine candles on the brown and forest green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Hallie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a grease gun! She hoped it would be a hand-painted grease gun. Her friend Daisy had said she would give her a pumpkin, and her fiancée always gave her cool stuff like the cream puff she gave her last year. Hallie 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 pair of cowboy boots. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the dump. She would have to wear a black armband instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her set of pink foam curlers.
She strode downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a bouquet. Her dad was standing there with a meat thermometer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a sniff.
"Hi Daddy!" Hallie replied confidently. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the strawberry shortcake," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra clams. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Hallie replied irritably. "Do we have the pretzels ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," her father replied quickly. "It only has to refrigerate overnight for forty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Hallie replied offhandedly. "I'm gonna go to the basement."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some hors d'oeuvre in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the basement 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," Hallie responded, as she sat down to her hors d'oeuvre. "Let's hang lots of lime-green balloons and cover the desk and the bar stool with metallic red crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father blankly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Madalyn Silva. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a basting brush."
"Loopers," Hallie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a smack. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."