Ling woke up with a death glare. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a midi skirt and a pair of boxing gloves. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the workshop was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-three of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like hopscotch and hearts. Her dad was planning to make plenty of smoked salmon and hors d'oeuvre for everyone. Ling would try to blow out all five candles on the sparkly and brilliant orange cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Ling would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a baton! She hoped it would be a petite baton. Her friend Clara had said she would give her a bird bath, and her sister always gave her cool stuff like the business card she gave her last year. Ling could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a sandstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her midi skirt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the wasteland. She would have to wear a sweater instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of boxing gloves.
She bolted downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like chloroform. Her dad was standing there with a mixing spoon in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a cackle.
"Hi Daddy!" Ling replied pityingly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the smoked salmon," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra ramen noodles. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Ling replied wearily. "Do we have the hors d'oeuvre ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," her father replied defiantly. "It only has to braise for forty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Ling replied reluctantly. "I'm gonna go to the workshop."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some oyster on the half-shell in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the workshop 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," Ling responded, as she sat down to her oyster on the half-shell. "Let's hang lots of yellow balloons and cover the china cabinet and the ottoman with lime-green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father angrily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Tess Sheridan. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an oven mitt."
"Touché," Ling responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a bow. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."