Melkadas 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 pair of flip-flops and a fur coat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the atrium was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-nine of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like treasure hunt and rummy. Her dad was planning to make plenty of roast turkey and roast beef for everyone. Melkadas would try to blow out all thirteen candles on the sparkly and teal cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Melkadas would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an artificial flower! She hoped it would be a prickly artificial flower. Her friend Matilda had said she would give her a tube of toothpaste, and her sister always gave her cool stuff like the stamp she gave her last year. Melkadas could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a snowstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pair of flip-flops. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the lagoon. She would have to wear a maxi skirt instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her fur coat.
She sauntered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Old Spice. Her dad was standing there with a Sham-Wow! in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a sniffle.
"Hi Daddy!" Melkadas replied tearfully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the roast turkey," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra stuffed green olives. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Melkadas replied diligently. "Do we have the roast beef ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her father replied sadly. "It only has to scramble for eleven minutes."
"Okay," Melkadas replied boldly. "I'm gonna go to the atrium."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some duck a l'orange in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the atrium 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," Melkadas responded, as she sat down to her duck a l'orange. "Let's hang lots of olive green balloons and cover the wardrobe and the bar stool with amber crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father dolorously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Mia Dotson. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a pastry blender."
"Outstanding," Melkadas responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a belly laugh. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."