Dolores woke up with a pound of the chest. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a blazer and a coat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the bedroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited fifteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like red rover and charades. Her dad was planning to make plenty of tortillas and pizza for everyone. Dolores would try to blow out all twenty-seven candles on the maroon and tan cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Dolores would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a baton! She hoped it would be an electric baton. Her friend Betty had said she would give her a dart, and her wife always gave her cool stuff like the candle she gave her last year. Dolores could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hurricane was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her blazer. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the mountaintop. She would have to wear a heavy layer of makeup instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her coat.
She dove downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like wine. Her dad was standing there with a meat tenderizer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a wag of the finger.
"Hi Daddy!" Dolores replied firmly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the tortillas," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra lime Jell-O. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Dolores replied boldly. "Do we have the pizza ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," her father replied arrogantly. "It only has to age for thirty-six minutes."
"Okay," Dolores replied ruefully. "I'm gonna go to the bedroom."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some Swiss cheese in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the bedroom 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," Dolores responded, as she sat down to her Swiss cheese. "Let's hang lots of black balloons and cover the overstuffed chair and the catbird seat with brilliant orange crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father courteously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Mackenzie Greenshields. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a wooden spoon."
"Good grief," Dolores responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a flutter. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."