Winnie woke up with a grunt. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a set of braces and a blanket. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the bathroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited nine of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like hide and seek and Mother May I. Her dad was planning to make plenty of macaroni and cheese and wienerschnitzel for everyone. Winnie would try to blow out all twenty-seven candles on the amber and olive drab cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Winnie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a nail! She hoped it would be a plastic nail. Her friend Kelly had said she would give her a bullet, and her sister always gave her cool stuff like the gun she gave her last year. Winnie could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a driving rain was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her set of braces. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the grassland. She would have to wear a bowler hat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her blanket.
She sallied forth downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like bleach. Her dad was standing there with a blender in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a cheer.
"Hi Daddy!" Winnie replied sagely. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the macaroni and cheese," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra English muffin. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Winnie replied bitterly. "Do we have the wienerschnitzel ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her father replied miserably. "It only has to sear outside for four minutes."
"Okay," Winnie replied happily. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom."
"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 bathroom 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," Winnie responded, as she sat down to her corn on the cob. "Let's hang lots of aquamarine balloons and cover the bookcase and the nightstand with grey crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father urgently. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Samina Crowe. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a cookie cutter."
"Wild," Winnie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a shrug. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."