Xenia woke up with a pout. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in an Armani suit and a tarboosh. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the boiler room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited three of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like Simon Says and cribbage. Her dad was planning to make plenty of burritos and prime rib for everyone. Xenia would try to blow out all thirty-four candles on the camouflage and olive green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Xenia would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a ticket! She hoped it would be a large ticket. Her friend Millie had said she would give her a can of beans, and her wife always gave her cool stuff like the coffee pot she gave her last year. Xenia 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 Armani suit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the path. She would have to wear a moustache instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her tarboosh.
She sailed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Christian Dior. Her dad was standing there with a potato peeler in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a finger gun.
"Hi Daddy!" Xenia replied carefully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the burritos," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra tomatoes. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Xenia replied grudgingly. "Do we have the prime rib ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," her father replied suspiciously. "It only has to spoon into container for two minutes."
"Okay," Xenia replied daintily. "I'm gonna go to the boiler room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some steak in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the boiler room 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," Xenia responded, as she sat down to her steak. "Let's hang lots of ivory balloons and cover the nightstand and the ironing board with olive drab crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father angrily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Constance Khatchaturian. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a knife."
"Poof," Xenia responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a wag of the finger. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."