Nan woke up with a cackle. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a set of scrubs and a ring. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the closet was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-two of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like duck duck goose and duck duck goose. Her dad was planning to make plenty of ice cream and roast Cornish game hen for everyone. Nan would try to blow out all twenty-seven candles on the amber and chartreuse cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Nan would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a tablet computer! She hoped it would be an odd tablet computer. Her friend Brianna had said she would give her a cookbook, and her cousin always gave her cool stuff like the doll she gave her last year. Nan could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hot day was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her set of scrubs. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the seashore. She would have to wear a gladiator helmet instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her ring.
She flew downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like chocolate cake. Her dad was standing there with a Sham-Wow! in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a hoot.
"Hi Daddy!" Nan replied sternly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ice cream," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra red wine. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Nan replied happily. "Do we have the roast Cornish game hen ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her father replied fervently. "It only has to deep fry for twenty-four minutes."
"Okay," Nan replied swiftly. "I'm gonna go to the closet."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some egg salad sandwich in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the closet 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," Nan responded, as she sat down to her egg salad sandwich. "Let's hang lots of teal balloons and cover the safe and the mattress with red crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father flightily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Jessica Tiller. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a grater."
"Egad," Nan 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."