Gilda woke up with a sniff. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a set of football pads and a pair of suspenders. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the den was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-four of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like roulette and crazy eights. Her dad was planning to make plenty of duck a l'orange and egg salad sandwich for everyone. Gilda would try to blow out all thirty-two candles on the green and khaki cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Gilda would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an ice cream cone! She hoped it would be a fancy ice cream cone. Her friend Ginger had said she would give her a clarinet, and her sister always gave her cool stuff like the pair of knitting needles she gave her last year. Gilda could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drought was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her set of football pads. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the meadow. She would have to wear a bonnet instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of suspenders.
She scampered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Juicy Fruit gum. Her dad was standing there with a pastry blender in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a death glare.
"Hi Daddy!" Gilda replied caustically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the duck a l'orange," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra green chiles. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Gilda replied numbly. "Do we have the egg salad sandwich ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her father replied sweetly. "It only has to sear outside for ninety minutes."
"Okay," Gilda replied diligently. "I'm gonna go to the den."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some cookies in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the den 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," Gilda responded, as she sat down to her cookies. "Let's hang lots of polka dotted balloons and cover the casket and the piano with polka dotted crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father crazily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Xaviera Eppley. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a pair of chopsticks."
"No no no," Gilda responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a furrowed brow. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."