Andie 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 pair of Reeboks and a pair of false eyelashes. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the lounge was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-two of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like red light green light and old maid. Her dad was planning to make plenty of ice cream and fondue for everyone. Andie would try to blow out all sixteen candles on the golden and metallic red cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Andie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a curling iron! She hoped it would be a greasy curling iron. Her friend Georgina had said she would give her a hacksaw, and her main squeeze always gave her cool stuff like the pair of fuzzy dice she gave her last year. Andie could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a tornado was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pair of Reeboks. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the crime scene. She would have to wear a pair of pantaloons instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of false eyelashes.
She skipped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like trouble. Her dad was standing there with a garlic press in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a flinch.
"Hi Daddy!" Andie replied clumsily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ice cream," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra ground pork. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Andie replied sagely. "Do we have the fondue ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her father replied unexpectedly. "It only has to smoke for forty-two minutes."
"Okay," Andie replied diligently. "I'm gonna go to the lounge."
"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 lounge 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," Andie responded, as she sat down to her enchiladas. "Let's hang lots of purple balloons and cover the card table and the ironing board with emerald green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father cruelly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Karla Clinton. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an electric paint mixer."
"Good gravy," Andie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a sniff. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."