Izzy woke up with a twitch. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a poodle skirt and a maxi skirt. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the game room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited fourteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like charades and duck duck goose. Her dad was planning to make plenty of jambalaya and shrimp for everyone. Izzy would try to blow out all five candles on the olive green and jade cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Izzy would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a curling iron! She hoped it would be a gleaming curling iron. Her friend Violet had said she would give her an elephant tusk, and her cousin always gave her cool stuff like the radio she gave her last year. Izzy 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 poodle skirt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the desert. She would have to wear a coonskin hat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her maxi skirt.
She set out downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like mildew. Her dad was standing there with a meat thermometer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a frown.
"Hi Daddy!" Izzy replied resignedly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the jambalaya," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra wine vinegar. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Izzy replied arrogantly. "Do we have the shrimp ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her father replied awkwardly. "It only has to steam for twenty-two minutes."
"Okay," Izzy replied fearlessly. "I'm gonna go to the game room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some crumb cake in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the game 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," Izzy responded, as she sat down to her crumb cake. "Let's hang lots of striped balloons and cover the washstand and the rocking chair with sparkly crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father neatly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Connie Sheridan. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a cookie cutter."
"Alley oop," Izzy responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a snarl. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."