Tess woke up with a pout. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a name tag and a few funny rags. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the parlor was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited fourteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like roulette and follow the leader. Her dad was planning to make plenty of dry toast and ramen noodles for everyone. Tess would try to blow out all nine candles on the hot pink and grey cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Tess would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a fish! She hoped it would be a filthy fish. Her friend Edna had said she would give her a church key, and her grandma always gave her cool stuff like the sack she gave her last year. Tess 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 name tag. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the marsh. She would have to wear a burqa instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her few funny rags.
She reeled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like grapefruit. Her dad was standing there with a napkin in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a grimace.
"Hi Daddy!" Tess replied mysteriously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the dry toast," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra pepper. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Tess replied courteously. "Do we have the ramen noodles ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," her father replied warmly. "It only has to shake for seventy-eight minutes."
"Okay," Tess replied immediately. "I'm gonna go to the parlor."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some ham in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the parlor 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," Tess responded, as she sat down to her ham. "Let's hang lots of white balloons and cover the coat rack and the bathtub with peach crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father blissfully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Claudette Potter. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a corkscrew."
"Quick," Tess responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a snarl. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."