Eleanor 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 Stetson hat and a pair of nylons. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the living room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like bridge and crazy eights. Her dad was planning to make plenty of waffles and egg rolls for everyone. Eleanor would try to blow out all seventeen candles on the red and black cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Eleanor would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a toilet seat! She hoped it would be a rusty toilet seat. Her friend Katie had said she would give her a bag of groceries, and her grandma always gave her cool stuff like the ashtray she gave her last year. Eleanor could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a period of warm weather was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her Stetson hat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the hillside. She would have to wear a bra instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of nylons.
She flew downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like mildew. Her dad was standing there with a pair of tongs in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a simper.
"Hi Daddy!" Eleanor replied trustingly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the waffles," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra black olives. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Eleanor replied anxiously. "Do we have the egg rolls ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," her father replied proudly. "It only has to sear outside for eighteen minutes."
"Okay," Eleanor replied quietly. "I'm gonna go to the living room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some pizza in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the living room 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," Eleanor responded, as she sat down to her pizza. "Let's hang lots of magenta balloons and cover the coat rack and the hope chest with fuchsia crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father pitifully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Annalouise Sagan. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a potato masher."
"Eeek," Eleanor responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a bow. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."