Claudette woke up with a pucker. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a cape and a big grin. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the game room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like chess and Simon Says. Her dad was planning to make plenty of country glazed ham and country glazed ham for everyone. Claudette would try to blow out all thirteen candles on the white and metallic red cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Claudette would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a Hostess Ding Dong! She hoped it would be a wet Hostess Ding Dong. Her friend Izzy had said she would give her a mop, and her cousin always gave her cool stuff like the tissue she gave her last year. Claudette could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a humid day was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her cape. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the tundra. She would have to wear a pair of khakis instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her big grin.
She galumphed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like baby powder. Her dad was standing there with an electric paint mixer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a bound.
"Hi Daddy!" Claudette replied arrogantly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the country glazed ham," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra egg white. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Claudette replied courageously. "Do we have the country glazed ham ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her father replied elatedly. "It only has to steam for seventy-four minutes."
"Okay," Claudette replied quickly. "I'm gonna go to the game room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some pie a la mode in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the game 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," Claudette responded, as she sat down to her pie a la mode. "Let's hang lots of pea green balloons and cover the china hutch and the overstuffed chair with sea green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father sternly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Nettie Goldberg. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a meat thermometer."
"You bet," Claudette responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a shrug. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."