Valerie woke up with a curtsey. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a headband and an evening gown. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the basement was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited five of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like jump rope and dominos. Her dad was planning to make plenty of roast beef and shrimp for everyone. Valerie would try to blow out all seven candles on the lime-green and white cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Valerie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a magazine! She hoped it would be a heavy magazine. Her friend Anita had said she would give her a pink flamingo, and her grandfather always gave her cool stuff like the kite she gave her last year. Valerie could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hailstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her headband. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the field. She would have to wear a bra instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her evening gown.
She rolled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like barbeque. Her dad was standing there with a fork in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a finger gun.
"Hi Daddy!" Valerie replied openly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the roast beef," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra graham crackers. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Valerie replied properly. "Do we have the shrimp ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," her father replied unnaturally. "It only has to refrigerate overnight for five minutes."
"Okay," Valerie replied brightly. "I'm gonna go to the basement."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some roast Cornish game hen in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the basement 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," Valerie responded, as she sat down to her roast Cornish game hen. "Let's hang lots of camouflage balloons and cover the safe and the chair with terra cotta crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father gracefully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Anne Osterman. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an oven mitt."
"Blah," Valerie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a fist bump. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."