Olive woke up with a finger gun. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a gunny sack and a tool belt. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the bedroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited one of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like Cootie and croquet. Her dad was planning to make plenty of ramen noodles and smoked salmon for everyone. Olive would try to blow out all eleven candles on the violet and salmon cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Olive would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a sack of potatoes! She hoped it would be a rough sack of potatoes. Her friend Clio had said she would give her a sponge, and her mentor always gave her cool stuff like the hair dryer she gave her last year. Olive could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drought was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her gunny sack. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the cave. She would have to wear a miniskirt instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her tool belt.
She flew downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like smelling salts. Her dad was standing there with a mixing spoon in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a furrowed brow.
"Hi Daddy!" Olive replied bitterly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ramen noodles," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra calamari. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Olive replied haughtily. "Do we have the smoked salmon ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," her father replied suspiciously. "It only has to sear outside for seventy-five minutes."
"Okay," Olive replied pityingly. "I'm gonna go to the bedroom."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some chicken gumbo 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," Olive responded, as she sat down to her chicken gumbo. "Let's hang lots of olive drab balloons and cover the carpet and the pillow with scarlet crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father blindly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Heather Workman. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a mixing spoon."
"Teehee," Olive responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a flush. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."