Marilyn woke up with a gasp. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of shoes and a birthday suit. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the rec room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eight of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like seven-up and Monopoly. Her dad was planning to make plenty of corn on the cob and ham for everyone. Marilyn would try to blow out all thirty-two candles on the salmon and olive green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Marilyn would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a bird bath! She hoped it would be a fuzzy bird bath. Her friend Dagmar had said she would give her a microscope, and her grandmother always gave her cool stuff like the flute she gave her last year. Marilyn 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 shoes. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the range. She would have to wear a cowboy hat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her birthday suit.
She whirled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like smoked fish. Her dad was standing there with a pair of chopsticks in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a smirk.
"Hi Daddy!" Marilyn replied grimly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the corn on the cob," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra baking powder. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Marilyn replied reluctantly. "Do we have the ham ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," her father replied defiantly. "It only has to fry dreamily in cotton skillet for sixty-two minutes."
"Okay," Marilyn replied quietly. "I'm gonna go to the rec room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some country glazed ham 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," Marilyn responded, as she sat down to her country glazed ham. "Let's hang lots of metallic red balloons and cover the buffet and the piano with orange crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father crossly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Carina Moore. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a chopstick."
"Heck," Marilyn responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a curtsey. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."