Charlotte woke up with a cringe. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a fig leaf and a pair of sweatpants. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the parlor was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-one of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like hide and seek and trivia. Her dad was planning to make plenty of mushroom quiche and oyster on the half-shell for everyone. Charlotte would try to blow out all nineteen candles on the chartreuse and red cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Charlotte would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a blanket! She hoped it would be a gruesome blanket. Her friend Jessi had said she would give her a mop, and her mentor always gave her cool stuff like the arrowhead she gave her last year. Charlotte could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a tornado was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her fig leaf. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the stream. She would have to wear a pair of flip-flops instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of sweatpants.
She slipped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a chocolate factory. Her dad was standing there with a ladle in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a grimace.
"Hi Daddy!" Charlotte replied mysteriously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the mushroom quiche," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra mustard. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Charlotte replied tensely. "Do we have the oyster on the half-shell ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," her father replied swiftly. "It only has to melt for sixty minutes."
"Okay," Charlotte replied breathlessly. "I'm gonna go to the parlor."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some roast Cornish game hen in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the parlor 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," Charlotte responded, as she sat down to her roast Cornish game hen. "Let's hang lots of ivory balloons and cover the floor and the washstand with maroon crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father truculently. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Marilyn Saramago. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a potato masher."
"Get outta here," Charlotte responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a jeer. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."