Audra woke up with a hiccup. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a visor and a Stetson hat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the den was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited seventeen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like badminton and bridge. Her dad was planning to make plenty of doughnuts and prune pudding for everyone. Audra would try to blow out all twenty-seven candles on the brown and blue cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Audra would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an air compressor! She hoped it would be a slimy air compressor. Her friend Darlene had said she would give her a book, and her sister-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the accordion she gave her last year. Audra could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dense fog was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her visor. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the seashore. She would have to wear a bikini instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her Stetson hat.
She galumphed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like cherry pie. Her dad was standing there with a potato masher in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a pout.
"Hi Daddy!" Audra replied suspiciously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the doughnuts," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra butter. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Audra replied delicately. "Do we have the prune pudding ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her father replied queerly. "It only has to allow to rise in warm place for several hours for seventeen minutes."
"Okay," Audra replied haughtily. "I'm gonna go to the den."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some lobster in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the den 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," Audra responded, as she sat down to her lobster. "Let's hang lots of azure balloons and cover the crib and the mattress with jade crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father gruffly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Rhoda Ackerman. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a garlic press."
"Crikey," Audra 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."