Queenie woke up with a kiss. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a letter jacket and a watch. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the boiler room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-eight of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like red rover and roulette. Her dad was planning to make plenty of egg salad sandwich and crumb cake for everyone. Queenie would try to blow out all twenty-one candles on the black and rose cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Queenie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a basketball! She hoped it would be a striking basketball. Her friend Betty had said she would give her a campaign sign, and her grandma always gave her cool stuff like the urn she gave her last year. Queenie could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a gale was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her letter jacket. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the veld. She would have to wear a pair of panties instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her watch.
She sailed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a feed lot. Her dad was standing there with a mixing spoon in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a snarl.
"Hi Daddy!" Queenie replied bravely. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the egg salad sandwich," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra mustard seed. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Queenie replied angrily. "Do we have the crumb cake ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," her father replied quietly. "It only has to braise for forty-five minutes."
"Okay," Queenie replied woefully. "I'm gonna go to the boiler room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some lobster bisque in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the boiler 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," Queenie responded, as she sat down to her lobster bisque. "Let's hang lots of ivory balloons and cover the futon and the nightstand with carrot-orange crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father nimbly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Gabriela Kramer. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a mixing spoon."
"Kapow," Queenie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a shiver. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."