Fifi woke up with a raspberry. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a Hawaiian shirt and a bikini. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the family room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-seven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like Simon Says and ring around the rosie. Her dad was planning to make plenty of tuna casserole and beef bouillon for everyone. Fifi would try to blow out all twenty-seven candles on the navy blue and lime-green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Fifi would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a rag! She hoped it would be a striped rag. Her friend Doris had said she would give her a pink flamingo, and her grandmother always gave her cool stuff like the thumb drive she gave her last year. Fifi could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dust storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her Hawaiian shirt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the cave. She would have to wear a negligee instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her bikini.
She breezed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like orange spice. Her dad was standing there with a Sham-Wow! in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a pout.
"Hi Daddy!" Fifi replied dolorously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the tuna casserole," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra strawberries. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Fifi replied carefully. "Do we have the beef bouillon ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," her father replied speedily. "It only has to roast for fifty-four minutes."
"Okay," Fifi replied reluctantly. "I'm gonna go to the family room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some sushi in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the family 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," Fifi responded, as she sat down to her sushi. "Let's hang lots of burgundy balloons and cover the water bed and the piano with jade crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father warily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Lucia Darnell. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a pair of chopsticks."
"Abracadabra," Fifi responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a honk. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."