Joan woke up with a stiff upper lip. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in an armband and a floppy hat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the patio was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like hopscotch and musical chairs. Her mom was planning to make plenty of beans and ice cream for everyone. Joan would try to blow out all twenty-one candles on the pink and hot pink cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Joan would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a business card! She hoped it would be a wet business card. Her friend Ira had said he would give her an egg shell, and her main squeeze always gave her cool stuff like the roll of duct tape she gave her last year. Joan could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drought was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her armband. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the cesspool. She would have to wear a hood instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her floppy hat.
She careened downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like pipe tobacco. Her mom was standing there with a whisk in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a grunt.
"Hi Mommy!" Joan replied frenetically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the beans," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra Brussels sprouts. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Joan replied sarcastically. "Do we have the ice cream ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," her mother replied deliberately. "It only has to press for twenty-one minutes."
"Okay," Joan replied grimly. "I'm gonna go to the patio."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some chicken soup in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the patio 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," Joan responded, as she sat down to her chicken soup. "Let's hang lots of burgundy balloons and cover the windowsill and the credenza with maroon crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother dubiously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Meredith Adler. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a strainer."
"Uh-huh," Joan responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a beam. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."