Candy woke up with a bound. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a body shirt and a ski mask. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the bathroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-nine of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like red rover and hide and seek. Her dad was planning to make plenty of cookies and duck a l'orange for everyone. Candy would try to blow out all nineteen candles on the sea green and indigo cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Candy would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an iPad! She hoped it would be a big iPad. Her friend Joan had said she would give her a wastebasket, and her mother-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the cell phone she gave her last year. Candy could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dense fog was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her body shirt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the mesa. She would have to wear a Speedo instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her ski mask.
She sped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like burnt toast. Her dad was standing there with a candy thermometer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a snarl.
"Hi Daddy!" Candy replied accidentally. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cookies," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra cornmeal. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Candy replied diligently. "Do we have the duck a l'orange ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," her father replied sheepishly. "It only has to press for thirty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Candy replied surreptitiously. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some refried beans in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the bathroom 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," Candy responded, as she sat down to her refried beans. "Let's hang lots of magenta balloons and cover the TV and the sofa with rose crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father breathlessly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Millie Peña. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a pastry blender."
"Unbelievable," Candy responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a wink. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."