Marissa woke up with a laugh. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a cat suit and a kilt. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the pantry was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited thirteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like Monopoly and bridge. Her dad was planning to make plenty of fish and chips and refried beans for everyone. Marissa would try to blow out all thirty-three candles on the jet black and khaki cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Marissa would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an African violet! She hoped it would be a slimy African violet. Her friend Fran had said she would give her a bagpipe, and her girlfriend always gave her cool stuff like the brochure she gave her last year. Marissa 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 cat suit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the bog. She would have to wear a pair of shoes instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her kilt.
She lumbered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like cookies. Her dad was standing there with a food processor in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a titter.
"Hi Daddy!" Marissa replied deliberately. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the fish and chips," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra baking powder. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Marissa replied pityingly. "Do we have the refried beans ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her father replied lazily. "It only has to microwave for five minutes."
"Okay," Marissa replied frenetically. "I'm gonna go to the pantry."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some fondue in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the pantry 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," Marissa responded, as she sat down to her fondue. "Let's hang lots of lime-green balloons and cover the wardrobe and the carpet with aqua crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father patiently. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Sydney Sugarbaker. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a potato masher."
"Barf," Marissa responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a sigh. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."