Chloe woke up with a giggle. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a few miniature rags and a wizard's hat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the den was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like crazy eights and crazy eights. Her dad was planning to make plenty of pecan pie and ramen noodles for everyone. Chloe would try to blow out all six candles on the pea green and burgundy cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Chloe would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a ticket! She hoped it would be a cheap ticket. Her friend Wilma had said she would give her a hair dryer, and her aunt always gave her cool stuff like the crutch she gave her last year. Chloe could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a rainbow was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her few miniature rags. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the badlands area. She would have to wear a skeleton costume instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her wizard's hat.
She zipped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a steakhouse. Her dad was standing there with a knife in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a hiccup.
"Hi Daddy!" Chloe replied gingerly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pecan pie," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra kiwis. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Chloe replied defiantly. "Do we have the ramen noodles ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," her father replied nicely. "It only has to fry immediately in valuable skillet for sixty-one minutes."
"Okay," Chloe replied fondly. "I'm gonna go to the den."
"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 den 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," Chloe responded, as she sat down to her brownies. "Let's hang lots of sparkly balloons and cover the billiard table and the ping-pong table with white crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father numbly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Iggy Nurbabayev. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a paring knife."
"Well I'll be," Chloe responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a snuffle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."