Kelly woke up with a curtsey. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a jumpsuit and a blanket. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the basement was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eight of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like red rover and follow the leader. Her dad was planning to make plenty of mulligan stew and hors d'oeuvre for everyone. Kelly would try to blow out all twenty-six candles on the carrot-orange and aquamarine cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Kelly would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a comic book! She hoped it would be a disgusting comic book. Her friend Gina had said she would give her a doll, and her main squeeze always gave her cool stuff like the diagram she gave her last year. Kelly could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a humid day was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her jumpsuit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the rainforest. She would have to wear a big red rose instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her blanket.
She inched downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a saloon. Her dad was standing there with a foot in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a beam.
"Hi Daddy!" Kelly replied glibly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the mulligan stew," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra parmesan cheese. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Kelly replied queerly. "Do we have the hors d'oeuvre ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," her father replied tensely. "It only has to deep fry for eighty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Kelly replied sleepily. "I'm gonna go to the basement."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some pancakes 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," Kelly responded, as she sat down to her pancakes. "Let's hang lots of jet black balloons and cover the dresser and the bookcase with metallic red crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father sweetly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Holly Greenside. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a wooden spoon."
"Yippee," Kelly responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a shrug. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."