Ginger woke up with a gurgle. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a suit and a sombrero. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the foyer was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited eight of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like hide and seek and rummy. Her mom was planning to make plenty of beans and prune pudding for everyone. Ginger would try to blow out all twenty-six candles on the periwinkle and purple cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Ginger would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a ticket! She hoped it would be a disgusting ticket. Her friend Lee had said he would give her a teddy bear, and her sister always gave her cool stuff like the chart she gave her last year. Ginger could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a lightning storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her suit. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the tundra. She would have to wear a sweatshirt instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her sombrero.
She scampered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like mountain air. Her mom was standing there with a Sham-Wow! in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a wince.
"Hi Mommy!" Ginger replied silently. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the beans," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra orange peel. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Ginger replied grandly. "Do we have the prune pudding ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her mother replied fearfully. "It only has to broil for twenty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Ginger replied wearily. "I'm gonna go to the foyer."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some oyster on the half-shell 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 mother replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Ginger responded, as she sat down to her oyster on the half-shell. "Let's hang lots of metallic red balloons and cover the crib and the wine rack with red crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother pitifully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Henrietta Apple. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a basting brush."
"Ay chihuahua," Ginger responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a blush. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."