Christina woke up with a wrinkled nose. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a miniskirt and a loincloth. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the salon was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-eight of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like Cootie and musical chairs. Her dad was planning to make plenty of pecan pie and tacos for everyone. Christina would try to blow out all twenty candles on the teal and polka dotted cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Christina would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an African violet! She hoped it would be a tiny African violet. Her friend Madison had said she would give her a diagram, and her friend always gave her cool stuff like the potato she gave her last year. Christina could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a thunderstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her miniskirt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the range. She would have to wear a bodysuit instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her loincloth.
She rolled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a beauty salon. Her dad was standing there with a melon baller in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a wink.
"Hi Daddy!" Christina replied wildly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pecan pie," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra macaroni. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Christina replied lickety-split. "Do we have the tacos ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her father replied timidly. "It only has to simmer for thirty minutes."
"Okay," Christina replied fearfully. "I'm gonna go to the salon."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some bread and butter in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the salon 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," Christina responded, as she sat down to her bread and butter. "Let's hang lots of violet balloons and cover the wine rack and the workbench with sparkly crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father suavely. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Claudette Montgomery. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a garlic press."
"Nonsense," Christina responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a chuckle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."