Deena woke up with a sniff. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of false eyelashes and a raincoat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the master bedroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like hopscotch and blackjack. Her dad was planning to make plenty of Cheerios and bonbons for everyone. Deena would try to blow out all twenty-three candles on the emerald green and chartreuse cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Deena would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an ingot of plutonium! She hoped it would be a hefty ingot of plutonium. Her friend Francie had said she would give her a microphone, and her aunt always gave her cool stuff like the stick she gave her last year. Deena could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dense fog was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pair of false eyelashes. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the cesspool. She would have to wear a pair of handcuffs instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her raincoat.
She bounced downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like whiskey. Her dad was standing there with a blender in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a smirk.
"Hi Daddy!" Deena replied slowly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the Cheerios," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra asparagus. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Deena replied confidently. "Do we have the bonbons ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," her father replied urgently. "It only has to marinate for eighty-four minutes."
"Okay," Deena replied offhandedly. "I'm gonna go to the master bedroom."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some ice cream 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," Deena responded, as she sat down to her ice cream. "Let's hang lots of sea green balloons and cover the cushion and the bathtub with teal crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father again. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Avery Childs. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a potato masher."
"Excuse me," Deena responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a glare. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."