Triffid woke up with a titter. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a flour sack and a jacket. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the family room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twelve of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like rummy and red light green light. Her dad was planning to make plenty of Cheerios and spaghetti for everyone. Triffid would try to blow out all twenty candles on the fuchsia and pink cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Triffid would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a package! She hoped it would be a striped package. Her friend Zoe had said she would give her an ironing board, and her fiancée always gave her cool stuff like the pearl she gave her last year. Triffid 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 flour sack. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the hayfield. She would have to wear a pair of overalls instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her jacket.
She staggered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like oregano. Her dad was standing there with a paring knife in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a bow.
"Hi Daddy!" Triffid replied accidentally. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the Cheerios," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra peanuts. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Triffid replied shyly. "Do we have the spaghetti ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," her father replied mysteriously. "It only has to roast for forty-six minutes."
"Okay," Triffid replied suddenly. "I'm gonna go to the family room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some egg drop soup in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the family 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," Triffid responded, as she sat down to her egg drop soup. "Let's hang lots of pea green balloons and cover the fainting couch and the canopy bed with green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father sleepily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Belle Lions. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an oven mitt."
"Scurvy dog," Triffid responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a roar. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."