Ophelia woke up with a growl. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a fez and a bridal gown. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the billiard room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-two of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like poker and Cootie. Her mom was planning to make plenty of crumb cake and egg drop soup for everyone. Ophelia would try to blow out all sixteen candles on the sea green and chartreuse cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Ophelia would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a spoon! She hoped it would be a bronze spoon. Her friend Quint had said he would give her a piggy bank, and her sister-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the vacuum cleaner she gave her last year. Ophelia could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dust storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her fez. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the glen. She would have to wear a headscarf instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her bridal gown.
She struggled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a compost pile. Her mom was standing there with a meat thermometer in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a laugh.
"Hi Mommy!" Ophelia replied grandly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the crumb cake," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra mustard. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Ophelia replied nervously. "Do we have the egg drop soup ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," her mother replied energetically. "It only has to smoke for twenty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Ophelia replied resignedly. "I'm gonna go to the billiard room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some lobster bisque in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the billiard room first?" she begged.
"It looks just like it always does," her mother replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Ophelia responded, as she sat down to her lobster bisque. "Let's hang lots of teal balloons and cover the mattress and the umbrella stand with polka dotted crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother sorrowfully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Amber Thurman. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a potato peeler."
"Boom," Ophelia responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a wag of the finger. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."