Valentina woke up with a sniff. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a cardigan and a jumper. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the dungeon was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like Candy Land and hearts. Her mom was planning to make plenty of lobster and country glazed ham for everyone. Valentina would try to blow out all four candles on the orange and camouflage cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Valentina would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a kite! She hoped it would be a rancid kite. Her friend Bum had said he would give her a hubcap, and her grandfather always gave her cool stuff like the ball she gave her last year. Valentina could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a lightning storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her cardigan. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the river. She would have to wear a blazer instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her jumper.
She strolled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Christian Dior. Her mom was standing there with a fork in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a death glare.
"Hi Mommy!" Valentina replied quickly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the lobster," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra turkey. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Valentina replied daintily. "Do we have the country glazed ham ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," her mother replied uneasily. "It only has to microwave for seventy-eight minutes."
"Okay," Valentina replied cleverly. "I'm gonna go to the dungeon."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some squash blossom soup in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the dungeon first?" she begged.
"It looks just like it always does," her mother replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Valentina responded, as she sat down to her squash blossom soup. "Let's hang lots of rose balloons and cover the credenza and the crib with forest green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother ingeniously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Sierra Oswald. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a food processor."
"Bah," Valentina responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a gasp. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."