Carol woke up with a grin. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a nightgown and a tinfoil hat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the lounge was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eleven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like dodge ball and solitaire. Her dad was planning to make plenty of pumpkin pie and borscht for everyone. Carol would try to blow out all nine candles on the green and khaki cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Carol would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a box! She hoped it would be a nice box. Her friend Seema had said she would give her a piggy bank, and her grandfather always gave her cool stuff like the cactus plant she gave her last year. Carol could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a snowstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her nightgown. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the swamp. She would have to wear a tam o'shanter instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her tinfoil hat.
She scurried downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like fine perfume. Her dad was standing there with a melon baller in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a kiss.
"Hi Daddy!" Carol replied delicately. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pumpkin pie," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra corn chips. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Carol replied ignobly. "Do we have the borscht ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," her father replied thankfully. "It only has to refrigerate overnight for seventy-eight minutes."
"Okay," Carol replied confidently. "I'm gonna go to the lounge."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some Froot Loops in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the lounge 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," Carol responded, as she sat down to her Froot Loops. "Let's hang lots of grey balloons and cover the toilet and the rocking chair with magenta crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father awkwardly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Ava Slater. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a food processor."
"Quick," Carol responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a furrowed brow. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."