Fanny woke up with a curtsey. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a set of camo fatigues and a visor. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the dungeon was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited two of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like musical chairs and chess. Her dad was planning to make plenty of cabbage and pancakes for everyone. Fanny would try to blow out all twenty-one candles on the pea green and hot pink cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Fanny would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a dictionary! She hoped it would be a fuzzy dictionary. Her friend Babs had said she would give her a rubber chicken, and her main squeeze always gave her cool stuff like the chess set she gave her last year. Fanny 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 set of camo fatigues. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the desert. She would have to wear a name tag instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her visor.
She zoomed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a stagnant pond. Her dad was standing there with a sharp knife in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a grunt.
"Hi Daddy!" Fanny replied clumsily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cabbage," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra shredded coconut. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Fanny replied again. "Do we have the pancakes ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," her father replied courteously. "It only has to spoon into container for fifty-six minutes."
"Okay," Fanny replied gingerly. "I'm gonna go to the dungeon."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some cotton candy in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the dungeon 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," Fanny responded, as she sat down to her cotton candy. "Let's hang lots of navy blue balloons and cover the china hutch and the bookshelf with olive drab crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father needlessly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Michaela Kemp. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a cheesecloth."
"Anyhoo," Fanny responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a shrug. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."