Cassie woke up with a sniff. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a bikini and a hearing aid. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the living room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited two of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like solitaire and jump rope. Her dad was planning to make plenty of shrimp and lamb curry for everyone. Cassie would try to blow out all eighteen candles on the violet and navy blue cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Cassie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a compass! She hoped it would be a cardboard compass. Her friend Maureen had said she would give her a Kindle, and her friend always gave her cool stuff like the toolbox she gave her last year. Cassie could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drizzle was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her bikini. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the backyard. She would have to wear a surgical mask instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her hearing aid.
She stormed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like meatloaf. Her dad was standing there with a spatula in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a simper.
"Hi Daddy!" Cassie replied uneasily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the shrimp," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra bread crumbs. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Cassie replied irritably. "Do we have the lamb curry ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," her father replied coldly. "It only has to grill for seventy-nine minutes."
"Okay," Cassie replied valiantly. "I'm gonna go to the living room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some chocolate-covered ants in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the living 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," Cassie responded, as she sat down to her chocolate-covered ants. "Let's hang lots of white balloons and cover the settee and the overstuffed chair with maroon crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father crazily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Madison Eriksson. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a knife."
"Bullpuckey," Cassie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a fist bump. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."