Melkadas woke up with a clenched fist. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a bandana and a fur coat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the nursery 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 marbles and Simon Says. Her dad was planning to make plenty of tuna casserole and brownies for everyone. Melkadas would try to blow out all twenty-one candles on the amber and blue cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Melkadas would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pumpkin! She hoped it would be a prickly pumpkin. Her friend Beatrice had said she would give her a hair dryer, and her sister-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the orange she gave her last year. Melkadas could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a pall of doom was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her bandana. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the seacoast. She would have to wear a pair of Crocs instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her fur coat.
She skipped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like eucalyptus. Her dad was standing there with a meat tenderizer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a growl.
"Hi Daddy!" Melkadas replied recklessly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the tuna casserole," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra pepper. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Melkadas replied uselessly. "Do we have the brownies ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her father replied shyly. "It only has to poach lightly for fifty-five minutes."
"Okay," Melkadas replied cautiously. "I'm gonna go to the nursery."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some beef bouillon in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the nursery 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," Melkadas responded, as she sat down to her beef bouillon. "Let's hang lots of black balloons and cover the settee and the footstool with crimson crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father fiercely. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Ophelia Houston. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a turkey baster."
"Say what," Melkadas responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a tear. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."