Taylor woke up with a cringe. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of pajamas and a corset. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the pool room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-three of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like rummy and rummy. Her dad was planning to make plenty of oyster on the half-shell and smoked salmon for everyone. Taylor would try to blow out all twenty-six candles on the chocolate brown and blue cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Taylor would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pair of binoculars! She hoped it would be a torn pair of binoculars. Her friend Edie had said she would give her a clock, and her mother-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the piano she gave her last year. Taylor could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a tornado was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pair of pajamas. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the landfill. She would have to wear a cocktail dress instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her corset.
She padded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like orange blossoms. Her dad was standing there with a food processor in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a bound.
"Hi Daddy!" Taylor replied ruefully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the oyster on the half-shell," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra Canadian bacon. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Taylor replied crazily. "Do we have the smoked salmon ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her father replied arrogantly. "It only has to shake for thirty-three minutes."
"Okay," Taylor replied nervously. "I'm gonna go to the pool room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some sauerkraut in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the pool 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," Taylor responded, as she sat down to her sauerkraut. "Let's hang lots of blue balloons and cover the canopy bed and the canopy bed with aquamarine crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father softly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Nellie Griggs. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a whisk."
"@#%#^@%$@!," Taylor 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."