Jolene woke up with a woof. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a nightgown and a dog collar. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the master bedroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like poker and roulette. Her dad was planning to make plenty of dry toast and lobster bisque for everyone. Jolene would try to blow out all ten candles on the scarlet and burgundy cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Jolene would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a flag! She hoped it would be an archaic flag. Her friend Jasmine had said she would give her a spoon, and her mother always gave her cool stuff like the bucket she gave her last year. Jolene 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 nightgown. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the prairie. She would have to wear a negligee instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her dog collar.
She galloped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like gasoline. Her dad was standing there with a paring knife in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a bow.
"Hi Daddy!" Jolene replied bitterly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the dry toast," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra powdered sugar. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Jolene replied warmly. "Do we have the lobster bisque ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her father replied happily. "It only has to mix caustically for fifty-six minutes."
"Okay," Jolene replied solemnly. "I'm gonna go to the master bedroom."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some corn on the cob in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the master bedroom 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," Jolene responded, as she sat down to her corn on the cob. "Let's hang lots of hot pink balloons and cover the pool table and the hamper with sea green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father testily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Shannon Bushnell. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an oven mitt."
"Never," Jolene responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a sneer. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."