Alissa woke up with a belly laugh. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a kimono and a T-shirt. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the auditorium was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like Monopoly and rummy. Her dad was planning to make plenty of ceviche and Swiss cheese for everyone. Alissa would try to blow out all twelve candles on the chartreuse and green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Alissa would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a paintbrush! She hoped it would be an imitation paintbrush. Her friend Jennessa had said she would give her a baseball, and her sister always gave her cool stuff like the pair of binoculars she gave her last year. Alissa could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a downpour was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her kimono. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the marsh. She would have to wear a Speedo instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her T-shirt.
She struggled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like pepper. Her dad was standing there with a food processor in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a flush.
"Hi Daddy!" Alissa replied effortlessly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ceviche," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra trout. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Alissa replied arrogantly. "Do we have the Swiss cheese ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," her father replied firmly. "It only has to scramble for seventy-eight minutes."
"Okay," Alissa replied lightly. "I'm gonna go to the auditorium."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some dry toast 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," Alissa responded, as she sat down to her dry toast. "Let's hang lots of olive green balloons and cover the wine rack and the bed with salmon crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father boisterously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Lorena Slade. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a blender."
"For heaven's sake," Alissa responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a death glare. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."