Wanda woke up with a laugh. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a bikini and a pair of tights. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the porch was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited fourteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like poker and Parcheesi. Her dad was planning to make plenty of dry toast and mushroom quiche for everyone. Wanda would try to blow out all eleven candles on the olive drab and peach cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Wanda would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a cupcake! She hoped it would be a rare cupcake. Her friend Hayley had said she would give her a fire hose, and her grandmother always gave her cool stuff like the Bible she gave her last year. Wanda could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that an earthquake was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her bikini. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the badlands area. She would have to wear a set of pink foam curlers instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of tights.
She dove downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like lavender. Her dad was standing there with a corkscrew in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a power fist.
"Hi Daddy!" Wanda replied numbly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the dry toast," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra rum. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Wanda replied demurely. "Do we have the mushroom quiche ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," her father replied lamely. "It only has to heat in microwave for sixty-five minutes."
"Okay," Wanda replied confidently. "I'm gonna go to the porch."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some beef bouillon in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the porch 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," Wanda responded, as she sat down to her beef bouillon. "Let's hang lots of camouflage balloons and cover the armoire and the china cabinet with forest green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father defiantly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Christine Milano. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a pair of chopsticks."
"Tut-tut," Wanda responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a clenched fist. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."