Sheryl woke up with a flutter. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a diaper and a pair of UGGs. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the ballroom was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-four of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like dominos and ring around the rosie. Her dad was planning to make plenty of hamburgers and egg rolls for everyone. Sheryl would try to blow out all eighteen candles on the olive green and polka dotted cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Sheryl would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a pencil sharpener! She hoped it would be a narrow pencil sharpener. Her friend Hilda had said she would give her a roll of toilet paper, and her mother always gave her cool stuff like the sponge she gave her last year. Sheryl could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a typhoon was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her diaper. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the hayfield. She would have to wear a pair of nylons instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of UGGs.
She went downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like tacos. Her dad was standing there with a potato peeler in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a furrowed brow.
"Hi Daddy!" Sheryl replied greedily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the hamburgers," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra mincemeat. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Sheryl replied crossly. "Do we have the egg rolls ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her father replied stupidly. "It only has to deep fry for seventy-three minutes."
"Okay," Sheryl replied confidently. "I'm gonna go to the ballroom."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some dirty rice in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the ballroom 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," Sheryl responded, as she sat down to her dirty rice. "Let's hang lots of lime-green balloons and cover the beanbag chair and the pillow with lime-green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father charmingly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Joni Harris. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an ice pick."
"Ick," Sheryl responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a titter. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."