Paige woke up with a twitch. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a headband and a tool belt. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the guest room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like battleship and Parcheesi. Her dad was planning to make plenty of potatoes and gravy and Swiss cheese for everyone. Paige would try to blow out all twenty-four candles on the aqua and orange cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Paige would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a stamp! She hoped it would be a filthy stamp. Her friend Nadine had said she would give her an air compressor, and her wife always gave her cool stuff like the bottle of painkillers she gave her last year. Paige could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a pall of doom was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her headband. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the hayfield. She would have to wear a pair of toe shoes instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her tool belt.
She strolled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like beer. Her dad was standing there with a mixing spoon in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a sneeze.
"Hi Daddy!" Paige replied gratefully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the potatoes and gravy," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra egg noodles. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Paige replied crazily. "Do we have the Swiss cheese ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her father replied gruffly. "It only has to shake for sixty-two minutes."
"Okay," Paige replied sorrowfully. "I'm gonna go to the guest room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some falafel in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the guest 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," Paige responded, as she sat down to her falafel. "Let's hang lots of indigo balloons and cover the cash register and the couch with forest green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father confidently. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Deirdre Tannenbaum. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a corkscrew."
"Ah," Paige responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with an evil eye. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."