Gretchen woke up with a roar. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a tool belt and a belly button jewel. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the laundry room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like trivia and cribbage. Her dad was planning to make plenty of tacos and Swiss cheese for everyone. Gretchen would try to blow out all six candles on the silver and hot pink cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Gretchen would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a bat! She hoped it would be a dry bat. Her friend Jodene had said she would give her a blank check, and her dad always gave her cool stuff like the lemon she gave her last year. Gretchen could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dense fog was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her tool belt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the dumpster. She would have to wear a pair of dungarees instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her belly button jewel.
She inched downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Max Factor. Her dad was standing there with a garlic press in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a grimace.
"Hi Daddy!" Gretchen replied slowly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the tacos," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra English muffin. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Gretchen replied briskly. "Do we have the Swiss cheese ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her father replied repeatedly. "It only has to freeze for nineteen minutes."
"Okay," Gretchen replied oddly. "I'm gonna go to the laundry room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some prune pudding in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the laundry 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," Gretchen responded, as she sat down to her prune pudding. "Let's hang lots of aqua balloons and cover the overstuffed chair and the chair with crimson crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father daintily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Judy Moore. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a piece of cheesecloth."
"Leapin' lizards," Gretchen responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a snigger. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."