Louise woke up with a growl. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a scarf and a pair of bell-bottoms. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the dining room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-seven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like dodge ball and cribbage. Her dad was planning to make plenty of jambalaya and cotton candy for everyone. Louise would try to blow out all five candles on the red and white cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Louise would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a saddle! She hoped it would be a stiff saddle. Her friend Clara had said she would give her a hot potato, and her mentor always gave her cool stuff like the diamond she gave her last year. Louise could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that an earthquake was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her scarf. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the hillside. She would have to wear a camisole instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of bell-bottoms.
She scurried downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like new mown hay. Her dad was standing there with an egg cutter in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a honk.
"Hi Daddy!" Louise replied zestily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the jambalaya," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra celery. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Louise replied later. "Do we have the cotton candy ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her father replied effortlessly. "It only has to steam for seventy-nine minutes."
"Okay," Louise replied truculently. "I'm gonna go to the dining room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some enchiladas in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the dining 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," Louise responded, as she sat down to her enchiladas. "Let's hang lots of black balloons and cover the wooden crate and the hamper with ivory crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father unnaturally. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Erin Sludge. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a Sham-Wow!."
"Ay caramba," Louise responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a belch. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."