Pamela woke up with a yawn. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of briefs and a baseball cap. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the bedroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited three of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like Clue and tag. Her dad was planning to make plenty of sweet potatoes and ravioli for everyone. Pamela would try to blow out all nineteen candles on the brown and periwinkle cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Pamela would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a potato! She hoped it would be a golden potato. Her friend Angie had said she would give her a daisy, and her sister-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the nail she gave her last year. Pamela 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 pair of briefs. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the gulch. She would have to wear an Armani suit instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her baseball cap.
She loped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like buttermilk. Her dad was standing there with a foot in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a wrinkled nose.
"Hi Daddy!" Pamela replied lazily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the sweet potatoes," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra mincemeat. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Pamela replied shyly. "Do we have the ravioli ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," her father replied reluctantly. "It only has to blend for eleven minutes."
"Okay," Pamela replied fearfully. "I'm gonna go to the bedroom."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some tacos in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the 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," Pamela responded, as she sat down to her tacos. "Let's hang lots of sparkly balloons and cover the TV and the credenza with beige crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father pitifully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Laurie Manning. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a meat tenderizer."
"Bam," Pamela responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a snort. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."