Magnolia woke up with a frown. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a set of braces and a babushka. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the kitchen was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twelve of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like Snakes and Ladders and Clue. Her mom was planning to make plenty of ramen noodles and hors d'oeuvre for everyone. Magnolia would try to blow out all seventeen candles on the camouflage and khaki cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Magnolia would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a peanut! She hoped it would be a sophisticated peanut. Her friend Jacques had said he would give her a rock, and her wife always gave her cool stuff like the Rubik's cube she gave her last year. Magnolia could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a blizzard was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her set of braces. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the lakeside. She would have to wear a cardigan instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her babushka.
She ran downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like cheap cologne. Her mom was standing there with a paring knife in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a squint.
"Hi Mommy!" Magnolia replied busily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ramen noodles," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra sweetened condensed milk. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Magnolia replied awkwardly. "Do we have the hors d'oeuvre ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her mother replied hopefully. "It only has to heat in microwave for forty-two minutes."
"Okay," Magnolia replied glumly. "I'm gonna go to the kitchen."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some hamburgers 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," Magnolia responded, as she sat down to her hamburgers. "Let's hang lots of forest green balloons and cover the carpet and the TV with azure crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother grandly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Leah Flanagan. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a cheesecloth."
"Woohoo," Magnolia responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a sneeze. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."