Happy Bir...

My birthday is next week. I'm going to be a thousand and seven.

This morning, my friend E. came over with a present, as she's going to be away next week. She was giddy as I reached in the gift bag and pulled out a small, fancily boxed rum cake and a tiny pink candle, the kind used on children's cakes. I set out Play-doh for the youngest as E. unsealed the box.

When she opened it, we both started laughing, silent laughter, the kind punctuated only by the occasional snort or faint rasp. For the box, already small, was four times as large as the actual cake. The candle was longer than the cake in every direction; we measured.

be had
idiom
1. Be outwitted; also, be cheated, deceived. This expression employs the verb to have in the sense of getting someone in one's power or at a disadvantage. [Slang; early 1800s]
2. Be bribed or influenced by dishonest means. [Slang; early 1800s]
"be had." The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992. Answers.com 03 Feb. 2006. http://www.answers.com/topic/be-had