Sharice woke up with a simper. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a gladiator helmet and a dog collar. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the basement was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-three of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like battleship and billiards. Her dad was planning to make plenty of mushroom quiche and doughnuts for everyone. Sharice would try to blow out all twelve candles on the lime-green and indigo cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Sharice would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a button! She hoped it would be a dry button. Her friend Martina had said she would give her a fish, and her main squeeze always gave her cool stuff like the fork she gave her last year. Sharice could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that an earthquake was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her gladiator helmet. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the landfill. She would have to wear a mortarboard instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her dog collar.
She strode downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like spearmint. Her dad was standing there with a Sham-Wow! in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a death glare.
"Hi Daddy!" Sharice replied sympathetically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the mushroom quiche," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra extra virgin olive oil. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Sharice replied coldly. "Do we have the doughnuts ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," her father replied sadly. "It only has to grill for seventy minutes."
"Okay," Sharice replied languidly. "I'm gonna go to the basement."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some clam chowder 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," Sharice responded, as she sat down to her clam chowder. "Let's hang lots of maroon balloons and cover the hammock and the fainting couch with salmon crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father menacingly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Vivian Jones. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a fork."
"Eeshk," Sharice responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a simper. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."