Roxanne woke up with a honk. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of nylons and a birthday suit. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the auditorium was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-three of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like Scrabble and Monopoly. Her dad was planning to make plenty of cherries jubilee and ham for everyone. Roxanne would try to blow out all seven candles on the olive green and teal cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Roxanne would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a towel! She hoped it would be an ordinary towel. Her friend Melanie had said she would give her a piggy bank, and her grandma always gave her cool stuff like the tennis racket she gave her last year. Roxanne 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 nylons. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the hill. She would have to wear a coonskin hat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her birthday suit.
She ambled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like gasoline. Her dad was standing there with a wooden spoon in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a belly laugh.
"Hi Daddy!" Roxanne replied menacingly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cherries jubilee," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra canned milk. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Roxanne replied solemnly. "Do we have the ham ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," her father replied lightly. "It only has to shake for forty-four minutes."
"Okay," Roxanne replied impatiently. "I'm gonna go to the auditorium."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some refried beans in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the auditorium 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," Roxanne responded, as she sat down to her refried beans. "Let's hang lots of camouflage balloons and cover the bathtub and the umbrella stand with chocolate brown crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father properly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Blanca Case. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a spatula."
"Out of this world," Roxanne responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a giggle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."