Kristi woke up with a blush. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of dungarees and a tarboosh. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the rec room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited five of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like pool and cribbage. Her dad was planning to make plenty of Swiss cheese and mushroom quiche for everyone. Kristi would try to blow out all twenty-eight candles on the periwinkle and terra cotta cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Kristi would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a corsage! She hoped it would be a papery corsage. Her friend Lori had said she would give her a carrot, and her grandmother always gave her cool stuff like the iPad she gave her last year. Kristi could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a driving rain was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pair of dungarees. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the creek. She would have to wear a bulletproof vest instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her tarboosh.
She dove downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a dusty attic. Her dad was standing there with a slotted spoon in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a wag of the finger.
"Hi Daddy!" Kristi replied steadily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the Swiss cheese," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra pineapple. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Kristi replied recklessly. "Do we have the mushroom quiche ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her father replied crazily. "It only has to allow to rise in warm place for several hours for nine minutes."
"Okay," Kristi replied nervously. "I'm gonna go to the rec room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some steak in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the rec 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," Kristi responded, as she sat down to her steak. "Let's hang lots of striped balloons and cover the ping-pong table and the filing cabinet with white crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father daringly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Kristen Locke. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a ladle."
"Dang," Kristi responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a guffaw. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."