Alisa woke up with a giggle. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a gorilla suit and a negligee. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the tool shed was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited fifteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like jump rope and badminton. Her dad was planning to make plenty of lamb curry and lobster for everyone. Alisa would try to blow out all thirty candles on the black and black cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Alisa would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a ticket! She hoped it would be a sophisticated ticket. Her friend Susanna had said she would give her a dog collar, and her fiancée always gave her cool stuff like the cream puff she gave her last year. Alisa could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dense fog was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her gorilla suit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the battlefield. She would have to wear a badge instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her negligee.
She waltzed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like mountain air. Her dad was standing there with a potato masher in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a shout.
"Hi Daddy!" Alisa replied sympathetically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the lamb curry," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra oregano. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Alisa replied nimbly. "Do we have the lobster ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," her father replied later. "It only has to allow to rise in warm place for several hours for six minutes."
"Okay," Alisa replied despondently. "I'm gonna go to the tool shed."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some egg salad sandwich in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the tool shed 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," Alisa responded, as she sat down to her egg salad sandwich. "Let's hang lots of black balloons and cover the display case and the four-poster bed with turquoise crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father viciously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Cheryl Owen. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a fork."
"Touché," Alisa responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a caress. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."