Mildred woke up with a wince. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a scarf and an Armani suit. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the outhouse was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited four of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like treasure hunt and Scrabble. Her dad was planning to make plenty of candy and sushi for everyone. Mildred would try to blow out all four candles on the metallic red and forest green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Mildred would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a wrench! She hoped it would be a ruined wrench. Her friend Jolene had said she would give her a potato, and her cousin always gave her cool stuff like the Van Gogh she gave her last year. Mildred 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 scarf. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the circus tent. She would have to wear a burqa instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her Armani suit.
She ambled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like pipe tobacco. Her dad was standing there with a dull knife in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a death glare.
"Hi Daddy!" Mildred replied smoothly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the candy," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra red cabbage. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Mildred replied violently. "Do we have the sushi ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," her father replied dolorously. "It only has to boil for seven minutes."
"Okay," Mildred replied tenderly. "I'm gonna go to the outhouse."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some enchiladas in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the outhouse 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," Mildred responded, as she sat down to her enchiladas. "Let's hang lots of pink balloons and cover the four-poster bed and the four-poster bed with silver crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father openly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Latrina Winters. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a spoon."
"Neato," Mildred responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a growl. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."