Minnie woke up with a sneeze. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a sari and a pair of jackboots. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the game room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like backgammon and billiards. Her dad was planning to make plenty of pizza and cotton candy for everyone. Minnie would try to blow out all twenty-nine candles on the orange and pea green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Minnie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a stuffed kitten! She hoped it would be an overgrown stuffed kitten. Her friend Madeline had said she would give her a notepad, and her mother-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the oriental vase she gave her last year. Minnie could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that an ice storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her sari. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the hill. She would have to wear a black armband instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of jackboots.
She sprinted downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a bouquet. Her dad was standing there with a paring knife in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a flutter.
"Hi Daddy!" Minnie replied kindly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pizza," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra oregano. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Minnie replied slyly. "Do we have the cotton candy ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," her father replied coldly. "It only has to marinate for seventy-six minutes."
"Okay," Minnie replied unnaturally. "I'm gonna go to the game room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some smoked salmon in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the game room 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," Minnie responded, as she sat down to her smoked salmon. "Let's hang lots of carrot-orange balloons and cover the bed and the bunk bed with silver crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father curiously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Azalea Madison. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a basting brush."
"Fine," Minnie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a smack. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."