Ella woke up with a flutter. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a raincoat and a bridal gown. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the kitchen was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-three of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like trivia and jump rope. Her mom was planning to make plenty of falafel and chicken chow mein for everyone. Ella would try to blow out all twenty-one candles on the mauve and fuchsia cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Ella would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a helmet! She hoped it would be an amazing helmet. Her friend Alberto had said he would give her an amulet, and her fiancée always gave her cool stuff like the grease gun she gave her last year. Ella could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a typhoon was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her raincoat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the marsh. She would have to wear a beanie instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her bridal gown.
She went downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like formaldehyde. Her mom was standing there with a cookie cutter in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a hug.
"Hi Mommy!" Ella replied curiously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the falafel," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra eggs. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Ella replied blindly. "Do we have the chicken chow mein ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her mother replied recklessly. "It only has to age for forty-two minutes."
"Okay," Ella replied bravely. "I'm gonna go to the kitchen."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some corn on the cob in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the kitchen 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," Ella responded, as she sat down to her corn on the cob. "Let's hang lots of turquoise balloons and cover the coat rack and the wine rack with orange crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother pitifully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Charlene Lippman. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an egg cutter."
"Scat," Ella responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a hug. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."