Violet woke up with a snigger. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of bell-bottoms and a pair of boxer shorts. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the living room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited nine of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like Candy Land and chess. Her dad was planning to make plenty of tofu and chocolate-covered ants for everyone. Violet would try to blow out all nineteen candles on the lime-green and brown cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Violet would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a brochure! She hoped it would be an abnormal brochure. Her friend Bailey had said she would give her a calculator, and her dad always gave her cool stuff like the beach ball she gave her last year. Violet 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 bell-bottoms. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the jungle. She would have to wear a pair of dentures instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of boxer shorts.
She skidded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like nail polish. Her dad was standing there with an electric mixer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a giggle.
"Hi Daddy!" Violet replied kindly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the tofu," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra flour. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Violet replied tensely. "Do we have the chocolate-covered ants ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her father replied dolorously. "It only has to age for three minutes."
"Okay," Violet replied patiently. "I'm gonna go to the living room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some steak 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," Violet responded, as she sat down to her steak. "Let's hang lots of brown balloons and cover the nightstand and the catbird seat with fuchsia crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father sleepily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Bretta Klinger. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a paring knife."
"Oh my word," Violet responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a giggle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."