Ellen woke up with a honk. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of socks and a jacket. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the laundry room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-four of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like trivia and old maid. Her dad was planning to make plenty of roast beef and fried eggs for everyone. Ellen would try to blow out all thirty-one candles on the red and silver cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Ellen would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a bag of popcorn! She hoped it would be a plain bag of popcorn. Her friend Midge had said she would give her a diary, and her mommy always gave her cool stuff like the stuffed owl she gave her last year. Ellen could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a pall of doom was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pair of socks. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the bog. She would have to wear a pair of bell-bottoms instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her jacket.
She trekked downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like licorice. Her dad was standing there with a pair of chopsticks in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a caress.
"Hi Daddy!" Ellen replied accidentally. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the roast beef," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra fresh papaya. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Ellen replied innocently. "Do we have the fried eggs ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," her father replied sweetly. "It only has to whirl for three minutes."
"Okay," Ellen replied confidently. "I'm gonna go to the laundry room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some French fries in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the laundry 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," Ellen responded, as she sat down to her French fries. "Let's hang lots of metallic red balloons and cover the desk and the windowsill with beige crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father repeatedly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Azalea Radcliffe. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a meat tenderizer."
"Ahh," Ellen responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a titter. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."