Kjersten woke up with a stiff upper lip. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a bib and a stovepipe hat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the pool room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited thirteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like Parcheesi and solitaire. Her dad was planning to make plenty of pizza and chopped liver for everyone. Kjersten would try to blow out all twenty-two candles on the tan and yellow cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Kjersten would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a picture! She hoped it would be a filthy picture. Her friend Libby had said she would give her a fishhook, and her main squeeze always gave her cool stuff like the paper airplane she gave her last year. Kjersten could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hurricane was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her bib. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the island. She would have to wear a pair of earrings instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her stovepipe hat.
She sprinted downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like turpentine. Her dad was standing there with a napkin in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a snuffle.
"Hi Daddy!" Kjersten replied steadily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pizza," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra lime Jell-O. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Kjersten replied diligently. "Do we have the chopped liver ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," her father replied unabashedly. "It only has to steam for four minutes."
"Okay," Kjersten replied daringly. "I'm gonna go to the pool room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some egg salad sandwich in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the pool room 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," Kjersten responded, as she sat down to her egg salad sandwich. "Let's hang lots of forest green balloons and cover the washstand and the pedestal with magenta crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father unnaturally. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Ellen Ostrander. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a meat thermometer."
"Whoop-dee-doo," Kjersten responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a bound. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."