Crystal woke up with a pucker. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a false moustache and a bicycle helmet. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the master bathroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twelve of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like bridge and shuffleboard. Her dad was planning to make plenty of chopped liver and sushi for everyone. Crystal would try to blow out all eight candles on the rose and camouflage cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Crystal would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a clipboard! She hoped it would be a brittle clipboard. Her friend Nelly had said she would give her a flyswatter, and her mother always gave her cool stuff like the billfold she gave her last year. Crystal could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a tornado was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her false moustache. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the countryside. She would have to wear a coonskin hat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her bicycle helmet.
She lumbered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like gingersnaps. Her dad was standing there with a corkscrew in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a yawn.
"Hi Daddy!" Crystal replied noisily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the chopped liver," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra butter. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Crystal replied later. "Do we have the sushi ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," her father replied shyly. "It only has to fry carefully in leather skillet for ten minutes."
"Okay," Crystal replied sarcastically. "I'm gonna go to the master bathroom."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some cornbread in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the master bathroom 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," Crystal responded, as she sat down to her cornbread. "Let's hang lots of grey balloons and cover the china cabinet and the catbird seat with forest green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father blankly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Shandra Baggins. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a paring knife."
"Yes," Crystal responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a dope slap. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."