Ashley woke up with a twitch. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a T-shirt and a pair of pajamas. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the kitchen was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like hearts and Mother May I. Her dad was planning to make plenty of egg salad sandwich and crumb cake for everyone. Ashley would try to blow out all thirty candles on the peach and lime-green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Ashley would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a paper airplane! She hoped it would be an electronic paper airplane. Her friend Kristi had said she would give her a pencil, and her fiancée always gave her cool stuff like the cotton ball she gave her last year. Ashley could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drought was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her T-shirt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the seashore. She would have to wear a business suit instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of pajamas.
She set out downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like hairspray. Her dad was standing there with a basting brush in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with an evil eye.
"Hi Daddy!" Ashley replied lazily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the egg salad sandwich," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra sweet pickles. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Ashley replied haughtily. "Do we have the crumb cake ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her father replied wryly. "It only has to braise for sixty-three minutes."
"Okay," Ashley replied fondly. "I'm gonna go to the kitchen."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some cinnamon toast in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the kitchen 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," Ashley responded, as she sat down to her cinnamon toast. "Let's hang lots of scarlet balloons and cover the coat rack and the hatstand with lime-green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father gruffly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Mackenzie Greenwood. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a meat thermometer."
"Deranged," Ashley responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a furrowed brow. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."