Lucille woke up with a snigger. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a turtleneck and a balaclava. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the cage was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eleven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like treasure hunt and charades. Her dad was planning to make plenty of lobster and beef bouillon for everyone. Lucille would try to blow out all nineteen candles on the emerald green and grey cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Lucille would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a dish! She hoped it would be a bronze dish. Her friend Jeanette had said she would give her a rock, and her sister-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the bottle of perfume she gave her last year. Lucille 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 turtleneck. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the briar patch. She would have to wear a bridal gown instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her balaclava.
She ambled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like asparagus. Her dad was standing there with a pair of tongs in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a frown.
"Hi Daddy!" Lucille replied fondly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the lobster," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra mashed potatoes. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Lucille replied primly. "Do we have the beef bouillon ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," her father replied automatically. "It only has to press for sixty minutes."
"Okay," Lucille replied speedily. "I'm gonna go to the cage."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some lobster bisque in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the cage 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," Lucille responded, as she sat down to her lobster bisque. "Let's hang lots of red balloons and cover the computer and the piano with ivory crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father sweetly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Brianna Alden. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an egg cutter."
"Gadzooks and crapadoodle," Lucille responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a coo. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."