Natalie woke up with a clenched fist. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a flour sack and a straitjacket. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the foyer was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited four of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like hopscotch and charades. Her dad was planning to make plenty of brownies and blueberry pie for everyone. Natalie would try to blow out all nineteen candles on the blue and olive drab cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Natalie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a flash drive! She hoped it would be a queer flash drive. Her friend Briget had said she would give her a toilet plunger, and her grandma always gave her cool stuff like the stick of gum she gave her last year. Natalie could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hot day was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her flour sack. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the gulch. She would have to wear a dress instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her straitjacket.
She trotted downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a chocolate factory. Her dad was standing there with a cookie cutter in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a shout.
"Hi Daddy!" Natalie replied pityingly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the brownies," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra onion. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Natalie replied crazily. "Do we have the blueberry pie ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her father replied gleefully. "It only has to press for sixty-four minutes."
"Okay," Natalie replied shyly. "I'm gonna go to the foyer."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some smoked salmon in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the foyer 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," Natalie responded, as she sat down to her smoked salmon. "Let's hang lots of chartreuse balloons and cover the crib and the stairway with rose crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father gratefully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Beatrice Piper. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a candy thermometer."
"Amen," Natalie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a squint. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."