Chelsea woke up with a finger gun. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a set of braces and a set of football pads. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the atrium was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited two of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like jump rope and billiards. Her dad was planning to make plenty of roast turkey and blueberry pie for everyone. Chelsea would try to blow out all twenty-nine candles on the polka dotted and amber cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Chelsea would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a doily! She hoped it would be a torn doily. Her friend Lynn had said she would give her a pencil sharpener, and her cousin always gave her cool stuff like the map she gave her last year. Chelsea could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a blanket of mist was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her set of braces. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the plateau. She would have to wear a straitjacket instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her set of football pads.
She bounced downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like apple pie. Her dad was standing there with a mixing spoon in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a smack.
"Hi Daddy!" Chelsea replied tenderly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the roast turkey," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra frozen spinach. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Chelsea replied primly. "Do we have the blueberry pie ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," her father replied kindly. "It only has to smoke for sixty-eight minutes."
"Okay," Chelsea replied suspiciously. "I'm gonna go to the atrium."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some Swiss cheese in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the atrium 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," Chelsea responded, as she sat down to her Swiss cheese. "Let's hang lots of red balloons and cover the beanbag chair and the hamper with white crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father grimly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Leah Cain. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a napkin."
"Okay then," Chelsea responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a curtsey. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."