Juanita woke up with a honk. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in an armband and a pair of bloomers. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the bedroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eight of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like tag and Parcheesi. Her dad was planning to make plenty of banana split and fried chicken for everyone. Juanita would try to blow out all twenty-five candles on the purple and aqua cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Juanita would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a flowerpot! She hoped it would be a modern flowerpot. Her friend Dinah had said she would give her a can of beer, and her sister always gave her cool stuff like the ironing board she gave her last year. Juanita could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a typhoon was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her armband. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the mesa. She would have to wear a pair of Reeboks instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of bloomers.
She rushed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like vinegar. Her dad was standing there with a dish cloth in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a crow.
"Hi Daddy!" Juanita replied sadly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the banana split," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra pâté de foie gras. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Juanita replied madly. "Do we have the fried chicken ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," her father replied nonchalantly. "It only has to blend for seventy-seven minutes."
"Okay," Juanita replied sheepishly. "I'm gonna go to the bedroom."
"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 bedroom 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," Juanita responded, as she sat down to her roast turkey. "Let's hang lots of chartreuse balloons and cover the bath mat and the counter with black crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father grimly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Bailey Hicks. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a pair of chopsticks."
"Jeepers creepers," Juanita responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a power fist. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."