Leila woke up with a simper. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a dress and a camisole. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the front porch was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eight of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like red rover and cribbage. Her mom was planning to make plenty of prune pudding and squash blossom soup for everyone. Leila would try to blow out all twenty-two candles on the violet and peach cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Leila would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a cookie! She hoped it would be a fuzzy cookie. Her friend Robin had said he would give her a necklace, and her grandpa always gave her cool stuff like the bullet she gave her last year. Leila could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dense fog was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her dress. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the savanna. She would have to wear a sweater instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her camisole.
She set out downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like peppermint. Her mom was standing there with a whisk in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a bound.
"Hi Mommy!" Leila replied sternly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the prune pudding," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra dill weed. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Leila replied steadily. "Do we have the squash blossom soup ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her mother replied perkily. "It only has to fry for sixty-eight minutes."
"Okay," Leila replied haughtily. "I'm gonna go to the front porch."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some country glazed ham in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the front porch 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," Leila responded, as she sat down to her country glazed ham. "Let's hang lots of terra cotta balloons and cover the computer and the coffee table with lime-green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother sagely. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Lindy Hale. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a paring knife."
"Bullpuckey," Leila responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a snicker. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."