Monica woke up with a squint. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a towel and a pair of combat boots. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the family room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited one of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like red rover and Simon Says. Her dad was planning to make plenty of apple pie and tofu for everyone. Monica would try to blow out all twenty-four candles on the lime-green and emerald green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Monica would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pair of dice! She hoped it would be a curved pair of dice. Her friend So-Yeng had said she would give her a pair of pliers, and her mentor always gave her cool stuff like the clarinet she gave her last year. Monica 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 towel. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the seacoast. She would have to wear a Panama hat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of combat boots.
She slithered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Pine-Sol. Her dad was standing there with a cheesecloth in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a shiver.
"Hi Daddy!" Monica replied fiercely. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the apple pie," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra Italian sausage. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Monica replied sourly. "Do we have the tofu ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her father replied properly. "It only has to shake for seventy-six minutes."
"Okay," Monica replied uneasily. "I'm gonna go to the family 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 family 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," Monica responded, as she sat down to her crumb cake. "Let's hang lots of chocolate brown balloons and cover the washstand and the stairway with chocolate brown crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father energetically. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Helga Goldfarb. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a slotted spoon."
"Hah," Monica responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a hoot. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."