Kristen woke up with a belch. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a beach towel and a gorilla suit. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the linen closet was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-eight of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like jacks and trivia. Her dad was planning to make plenty of burritos and omelet for everyone. Kristen would try to blow out all nine candles on the olive drab and rose cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Kristen would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a piece of candy! She hoped it would be a plain piece of candy. Her friend Lucia had said she would give her an iPod, and her grandpa always gave her cool stuff like the football she gave her last year. Kristen 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 beach towel. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the wasteland. She would have to wear a diamond bracelet instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her gorilla suit.
She loped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like roses. Her dad was standing there with a potato masher in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a flutter.
"Hi Daddy!" Kristen replied crazily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the burritos," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra pinto beans. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Kristen replied delicately. "Do we have the omelet ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," her father replied admiringly. "It only has to spread into container for eighty-one minutes."
"Okay," Kristen replied cheerfully. "I'm gonna go to the linen closet."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some brownies in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the linen closet 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," Kristen responded, as she sat down to her brownies. "Let's hang lots of emerald green balloons and cover the wine rack and the bunk bed with terra cotta crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father nervously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Camille Tyson. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a strainer."
"Aye," Kristen responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a snort. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."