Samantha woke up with a simper. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a dunce cap and a pair of cargo pants. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the closet was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited thirteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like red light green light and rummy. Her dad was planning to make plenty of tortillas and strawberry shortcake for everyone. Samantha would try to blow out all twenty candles on the camouflage and pea green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Samantha would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a washrag! She hoped it would be a slimy washrag. Her friend Stella had said she would give her a bowling ball, and her aunt always gave her cool stuff like the cigarette she gave her last year. Samantha could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a bit of precipitation was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her dunce cap. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the seashore. She would have to wear a pair of galoshes instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of cargo pants.
She dove downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like rotting meat. Her dad was standing there with a Sham-Wow! in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a cackle.
"Hi Daddy!" Samantha replied positively. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the tortillas," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra calamari. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Samantha replied testily. "Do we have the strawberry shortcake ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," her father replied ingeniously. "It only has to spoon into container for seventy-four minutes."
"Okay," Samantha replied caustically. "I'm gonna go to the closet."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some hamburgers in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the closet 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," Samantha responded, as she sat down to her hamburgers. "Let's hang lots of metallic red balloons and cover the safe and the buffet with peach crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father lightly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Holly Pummelly. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a Sham-Wow!."
"Gee," Samantha responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a twitch. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."