Esmeralda woke up with a furrowed brow. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a beret and a bridal gown. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the corridor was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eleven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like croquet and old maid. Her mom was planning to make plenty of banana split and lobster for everyone. Esmeralda would try to blow out all twenty-three candles on the yellow and peach cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Esmeralda would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a jar of olives! She hoped it would be a chic jar of olives. Her friend Alberto had said he would give her a sack of potatoes, and her main squeeze always gave her cool stuff like the crate she gave her last year. Esmeralda could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a rainbow was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her beret. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the cliff. She would have to wear a gas mask instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her bridal gown.
She slipped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a skunk. Her mom was standing there with a piece of cheesecloth in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a backward glance.
"Hi Mommy!" Esmeralda replied elatedly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the banana split," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra white rice. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Esmeralda replied deftly. "Do we have the lobster ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," her mother replied softly. "It only has to broil for forty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Esmeralda replied sympathetically. "I'm gonna go to the corridor."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some Cheerios in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the corridor 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," Esmeralda responded, as she sat down to her Cheerios. "Let's hang lots of jade balloons and cover the china cabinet and the ping-pong table with magenta crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother carefully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Liz Booth. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a paring knife."
"Wahoo," Esmeralda responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a finger gun. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."