Kirsten woke up with a furrowed brow. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a gas mask and a pair of combat boots. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the laundry room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited one of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like old maid and blackjack. Her dad was planning to make plenty of ceviche and fried chicken for everyone. Kirsten would try to blow out all eleven candles on the blue and golden cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Kirsten would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a can of sardines! She hoped it would be a speckled can of sardines. Her friend Dusty had said she would give her a baseball bat, and her mother-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the box she gave her last year. Kirsten could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dust storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her gas mask. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the lagoon. She would have to wear a tinfoil hat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of combat boots.
She waltzed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like cheap cologne. Her dad was standing there with a meat tenderizer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a curtsey.
"Hi Daddy!" Kirsten replied sarcastically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ceviche," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra liver. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Kirsten replied needlessly. "Do we have the fried chicken ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," her father replied gruffly. "It only has to slow cook for ten minutes."
"Okay," Kirsten replied ruefully. "I'm gonna go to the laundry room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some pie a la mode in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the laundry room 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," Kirsten responded, as she sat down to her pie a la mode. "Let's hang lots of metallic red balloons and cover the hatstand and the bar stool with jade crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father nimbly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Nora Hunter. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a chopstick."
"Really," Kirsten 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."