Ellen woke up with a curtsey. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a cummerbund and a pith helmet. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the boudoir was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited seven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like Scrabble and badminton. Her dad was planning to make plenty of burritos and popcorn for everyone. Ellen would try to blow out all thirty-three candles on the sparkly and brilliant orange cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Ellen would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a fire hose! She hoped it would be an ancient fire hose. Her friend Cecelia had said she would give her a crayon, and her cousin always gave her cool stuff like the telephone she gave her last year. Ellen could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a snowstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her cummerbund. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the peninsula. She would have to wear a heavy layer of makeup instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pith helmet.
She jogged downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like tacos. Her dad was standing there with a melon baller in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a smack.
"Hi Daddy!" Ellen replied charmingly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the burritos," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra white beans. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Ellen replied clumsily. "Do we have the popcorn ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," her father replied gently. "It only has to allow to rise in warm place for several hours for twenty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Ellen replied ingeniously. "I'm gonna go to the boudoir."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some chocolate-covered ants in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the boudoir 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," Ellen responded, as she sat down to her chocolate-covered ants. "Let's hang lots of striped balloons and cover the coat rack and the dining table with turquoise crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father violently. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Nelda Fischer. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a paring knife."
"Rats," Ellen responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a bow. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."