LaVerne woke up with a wag of the finger. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a garland and a straitjacket. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the billiard room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-seven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like duck duck goose and red light green light. Her dad was planning to make plenty of cotton candy and catfish stew for everyone. LaVerne would try to blow out all twelve candles on the indigo and green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, LaVerne would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pumpkin! She hoped it would be an amazing pumpkin. Her friend Izzy had said she would give her an abacus, and her girlfriend always gave her cool stuff like the rope she gave her last year. LaVerne could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hurricane was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her garland. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the cornfield. She would have to wear a bolo tie instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her straitjacket.
She sailed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a sardine cannery. Her dad was standing there with a bare foot in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a cringe.
"Hi Daddy!" LaVerne replied caustically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cotton candy," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra mint leaves. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," LaVerne replied vacantly. "Do we have the catfish stew ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her father replied blindly. "It only has to broil for four minutes."
"Okay," LaVerne replied lovingly. "I'm gonna go to the billiard room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some borscht in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the billiard room 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," LaVerne responded, as she sat down to her borscht. "Let's hang lots of green balloons and cover the coat rack and the wine rack with aqua crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father urgently. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Kimberly Backus. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a garlic press."
"No way," LaVerne responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a sniffle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."