Cherise woke up with a snarl. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a sport coat and an earring. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the boudoir was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-one of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like baseball and red rover. Her dad was planning to make plenty of Hamburger Helper and pancakes for everyone. Cherise would try to blow out all four candles on the pink and sparkly cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Cherise would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a trash can! She hoped it would be a peculiar trash can. Her friend Bethany had said she would give her a pain pill, and her mom always gave her cool stuff like the box of candy she gave her last year. Cherise could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dust storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her sport coat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the lagoon. She would have to wear a fur coat instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her earring.
She galloped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like beer. Her dad was standing there with a melon baller in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a gasp.
"Hi Daddy!" Cherise replied daintily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the Hamburger Helper," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra cornstarch. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Cherise replied joyously. "Do we have the pancakes ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," her father replied woefully. "It only has to microwave for sixty-six minutes."
"Okay," Cherise replied slowly. "I'm gonna go to the boudoir."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some smoked salmon in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the boudoir 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," Cherise responded, as she sat down to her smoked salmon. "Let's hang lots of metallic red balloons and cover the four-poster bed and the footstool with yellow crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father ignobly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Doris Dewey. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an egg cutter."
"Diddly bunk," Cherise responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a stiff upper lip. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."