Mama woke up with a backward glance. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a moustache and a letter jacket. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the foyer was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited three of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like tag and red light green light. Her dad was planning to make plenty of ravioli and squash blossom soup for everyone. Mama would try to blow out all twenty-eight candles on the terra cotta and metallic red cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Mama would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a paper airplane! She hoped it would be a chic paper airplane. Her friend Pallavi had said she would give her a pipe, and her wife always gave her cool stuff like the sack she gave her last year. Mama could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a snowstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her moustache. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the arroyo. She would have to wear a wig instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her letter jacket.
She scurried downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like Avon. Her dad was standing there with an oven mitt in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a gasp.
"Hi Daddy!" Mama replied frantically. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the ravioli," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra dill weed. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Mama replied lazily. "Do we have the squash blossom soup ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eleven o'clock to start that," her father replied glibly. "It only has to bake at 450 degrees F for forty-five minutes."
"Okay," Mama replied noisily. "I'm gonna go to the foyer."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some cabbage rolls in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the foyer first?" she begged.
"It looks just like it always does," her father replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Mama responded, as she sat down to her cabbage rolls. "Let's hang lots of black balloons and cover the couch and the crib with scarlet crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father offhandedly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Joyce Burtle. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a corkscrew."
"Kapow," Mama responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a honk. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."