Priscilla woke up with a twitch. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a bridal gown and a kimono. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the master bathroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited fifteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like red light green light and charades. Her dad was planning to make plenty of chicken soup and Cheerios for everyone. Priscilla would try to blow out all thirty-three candles on the rose and fuchsia cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Priscilla would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pepper grinder! She hoped it would be a puzzling pepper grinder. Her friend Lakshmi had said she would give her a bonnet, and her cousin always gave her cool stuff like the diagram she gave her last year. Priscilla could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that an earthquake was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her bridal gown. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the lagoon. She would have to wear a turtleneck instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her kimono.
She flew downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like tacos. Her dad was standing there with an electric mixer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a pout.
"Hi Daddy!" Priscilla replied irritably. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the chicken soup," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra salmon filets. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Priscilla replied defiantly. "Do we have the Cheerios ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her father replied bravely. "It only has to scramble for thirty-five minutes."
"Okay," Priscilla replied narrowly. "I'm gonna go to the master bathroom."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some egg salad sandwich in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the master bathroom 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," Priscilla responded, as she sat down to her egg salad sandwich. "Let's hang lots of jade balloons and cover the cash register and the nightstand with fuchsia crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father lazily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Celia Ramirez. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a dish cloth."
"Cool beans," Priscilla responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a hoot. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."