Marissa woke up with a smile. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a toga and a tarboosh. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the basement was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-five of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like marbles and billiards. Her dad was planning to make plenty of duck a l'orange and chicken pot pie for everyone. Marissa would try to blow out all nineteen candles on the chocolate brown and brilliant orange cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Marissa would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a floppy disk! She hoped it would be a gruesome floppy disk. Her friend Christine had said she would give her a bottle of perfume, and her mommy always gave her cool stuff like the flute she gave her last year. Marissa could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a blanket of mist was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her toga. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the mesa. She would have to wear a nightgown instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her tarboosh.
She breezed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like coconut. Her dad was standing there with a meat thermometer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a chortle.
"Hi Daddy!" Marissa replied energetically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the duck a l'orange," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra Dijon mustard. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Marissa replied tenderly. "Do we have the chicken pot pie ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," her father replied cautiously. "It only has to heat in microwave for forty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Marissa replied softly. "I'm gonna go to the basement."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some fondue in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the basement 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," Marissa responded, as she sat down to her fondue. "Let's hang lots of grey balloons and cover the safe and the armoire with lime-green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father sourly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Isabel Draney. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a paring knife."
"Ick," Marissa responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a smirk. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."