Monica woke up with an evil eye. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a diamond bracelet and a necklace. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the bedroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited thirty of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like badminton and chess. Her dad was planning to make plenty of ramen noodles and spaghetti for everyone. Monica would try to blow out all twenty-four candles on the sparkly and amber cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Monica would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a stick! She hoped it would be a cheap stick. Her friend Bretta had said she would give her a hot potato, and her friend always gave her cool stuff like the bottle she gave her last year. Monica could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a tornado was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her diamond bracelet. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the trail. She would have to wear a set of pink foam curlers instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her necklace.
She sneaked downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a papermill. Her dad was standing there with a mixing spoon in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a cringe.
"Hi Daddy!" Monica replied languidly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ramen noodles," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra capers. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Monica replied smoothly. "Do we have the spaghetti ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," her father replied curiously. "It only has to marinate for thirty-one minutes."
"Okay," Monica replied sternly. "I'm gonna go to the bedroom."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some beans in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the bedroom 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," Monica responded, as she sat down to her beans. "Let's hang lots of striped balloons and cover the sofa and the china hutch with purple crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father deftly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Elinor Washington. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a basting brush."
"Ugh," Monica responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a smirk. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."