Minnie woke up with a shiver. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a bowler hat and a coat of mail. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the corridor was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-seven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like checkers and poker. Her dad was planning to make plenty of ceviche and ice cream for everyone. Minnie would try to blow out all thirty candles on the fuchsia and white cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Minnie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a hubcap! She hoped it would be a used hubcap. Her friend Cynthia had said she would give her a thumb drive, and her wife always gave her cool stuff like the roll of duct tape she gave her last year. Minnie could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a bit of precipitation was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her bowler hat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the canyon. 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 coat of mail.
She struggled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Estée Lauder. Her dad was standing there with a turkey baster in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a smile.
"Hi Daddy!" Minnie replied properly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ceviche," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra shallots. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Minnie replied repeatedly. "Do we have the ice cream ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," her father replied crossly. "It only has to toast for fifty-six minutes."
"Okay," Minnie replied perkily. "I'm gonna go to the corridor."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some mushroom quiche in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the corridor 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," Minnie responded, as she sat down to her mushroom quiche. "Let's hang lots of maroon balloons and cover the chair and the china hutch with chartreuse crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father charmingly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Tiffany Swoopes. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a napkin."
"Zowie," Minnie 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."