Helena, Birthday Girl

Helena had set her alarm for 6:30 a.m. because that was the time she usually got up for school. She wouldn’t be going today for many reasons, the main one being because it was her birthday- she was 7 today.
The alarm went off and she leapt from her bed to stop it. After dancing around her room for a moment, she crept down stairs for breakfast trying not to make any noise.
In the kitchen, she poured herself a big bowl of Cocoa Krispies and covered them with chocolate milk. Before, her mother had told her that she could do this, but only on her birthday.
As she ate, she smiled to herself over how much chocolate there was.
When she was done, she placed the bowl in the dishwasher and made her way back upstairs. She brushed her teeth, washed her face, and got into her prettiest dress. Her mother said that she could wear it all day, but only because it was her birthday.
Downstairs again, she turned on the television. It was only static. It had been this way for a while. She wanted to watch cartoons all day. But since the television didn’t work she decided to make decorations for her party. Thinking for a moment, she realized that she could easily ruin her pretty dress if she made decorations in it, so she took it off and hung it in the hallway closet.
After getting out of her dress, Helena decided that the best thing to do would be to ride her tricycle around the house in her underwear. Normally this wouldn’t be allowed, riding in the house, but today was special. With every third or fourth lap around the house, she’d stop in the kitchen to “gas up” by drinking a bit of apple juice. As she drank, she looked out from the kitchen window into the neighborhood. There were so many people walking around out there. She wondered where they could all be going. Certainly not to her party. They’d just ruin it, stomping around the kitchen…
At this point Helena decided that in order to properly make birthday decorations, she’d need a super girl cape. In the hallway closet, she took out the long blue beach towel and pinned it around her neck. After a few super girl-styled victory laps around the living room, she started on the decorations.
As she lay in the living room floor drawing decorations in her slip and super girl cape, she could hear her parents. As soon as she was done with her decorations, she’d show them and then begin on her birthday pudding. She’d wanted to cook her own cake, but her mother said she couldn’t she decided instead, then, to make pudding in a big bowl and cover it in whipped cream.
Helena knew that she wouldn’t be getting any presents today. Her parents couldn’t give her parents anymore. She was sad about this at first, but realized that this meant she could make her own gifts.
She glued plastic beads and glitter all over a Quaker Oats box, then attached some yarn to the top and made a chandelier. She glued some pictures from the time she and her parents went to the big zoo to construction paper, and then used Popsicle sticks to make a frame, then wrapped all the presents in old Sunday comics because they were the most colorful.
By the time she finished this, it was already time for lunch. Helena went to the kitchen and found herself a pepperoni lunchables. She counted that there was only two of those left. There wasn’t much food in the kitchen at all. She’d have to be really resourceful when she made her birthday dinner.
There was macaroni and hot dogs and pretzels and soon she’d make pudding. She couldn’t think of a better birthday dinner. When the clock struck 5, she’d start on dinner. It was only noon now, and she was full from her Lunchables and decided to watch a DVD.
Helena fell asleep watching The Great Muppet Caper on DVD. She dreamt about a glorious, glamorous birthday party. All of her friends were there, and each one had their own horse. As her guests sat upon their horses, Helena made a grand entrance from the crystal castle she lived in on her beautiful pink unicorn.
She rode around all the guests as they cheered, and when they were done cheering, she started to open her presents.
The king of America got her a helicopter. The queen of Canada got her a Super Girl cape that really let her fly. The master of France got her an even pinker more beautiful unicorn, and the emperor of London got her a life sized Barbie robot. The best present of all, though, came from her parents. They whisked her away in a hot air balloon and took her on a trip to every place in the world.
When Helena woke, she finished the banner she’d been working on for the party, made her birthday pudding, and set the table. After this she ran to get back into her party dress and put some bows into her hair for good measure.
At long last, everything was prepared for Helena’s 7th birthday celebration. She turned on some music, lit some candles, and made a birthday wish. Before she had some pudding, she remembered one last thing…
Helena took the banner she’d worked so hard on to the front window and pulled back the curtains to show it to her Mom and Dad- as well as the hundreds of other walking corpses that were trying desperately to get into the house.