Erica woke up with a sneer. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a visor and a pair of boxer shorts. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the laundry room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited seven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like solitaire and follow the leader. Her dad was planning to make plenty of ramen noodles and roast Cornish game hen for everyone. Erica would try to blow out all fifteen candles on the fuchsia and violet cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Erica would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a baseball bat! She hoped it would be a torn baseball bat. Her friend Ophelia had said she would give her a can of beer, and her grandfather always gave her cool stuff like the Kindle she gave her last year. Erica 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 visor. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the neighborhood. She would have to wear a pair of booties instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of boxer shorts.
She flounced downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like hot cocoa. Her dad was standing there with a candy thermometer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a snicker.
"Hi Daddy!" Erica replied dolorously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ramen noodles," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra pistachios. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Erica replied unabashedly. "Do we have the roast Cornish game hen ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," her father replied grudgingly. "It only has to whirl for seventy-four minutes."
"Okay," Erica replied victoriously. "I'm gonna go to the laundry room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some wienerschnitzel 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," Erica responded, as she sat down to her wienerschnitzel. "Let's hang lots of aquamarine balloons and cover the filing cabinet and the ironing board with golden crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father dubiously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Mama Prince. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an oven mitt."
"Dadgum," Erica responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a wrinkled nose. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."