The answer to that silly alliterative query can be summed up in a sentence that also sums up the book: its celebration is postponed in tote until after biggest sister Lorna's wedding. But meanwhile Beverly mopes, makes a nuisance of herself, and grows more and more miserable--all because there wouldn't be any story had one of the adults said a single sensible word to Beverly (like ""Wait""). It's the kind of fiction--with Beverly mistaking the wedding cake for a birthday cake, for instance--that's an insult to writing and to the reader.