Beulah woke up with a sneeze. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a bathrobe and a business suit. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the living room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eleven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like doctor and trivia. Her mom was planning to make plenty of pie a la mode and tofu for everyone. Beulah would try to blow out all twenty-five candles on the indigo and magenta cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Beulah would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a business card! She hoped it would be a plain business card. Her friend Lance had said he would give her a Bible, and her main squeeze always gave her cool stuff like the doily she gave her last year. Beulah could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a humid day was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her bathrobe. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the country meadow. She would have to wear a fedora instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her business suit.
She bolted downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like asparagus. Her mom was standing there with a sharp knife in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with an air kiss.
"Hi Mommy!" Beulah replied wearily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pie a la mode," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra flank steak. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Beulah replied strictly. "Do we have the tofu ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her mother replied warily. "It only has to whirl for sixteen minutes."
"Okay," Beulah replied again. "I'm gonna go to the living room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some pretzels in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the living 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," Beulah responded, as she sat down to her pretzels. "Let's hang lots of jet black balloons and cover the floor and the pillow with maroon crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother silently. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Valentina Diaz. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a meat tenderizer."
"Yahoo," Beulah responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a flutter. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."