Josephine woke up with a pout. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a set of scrubs and a fig leaf. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the outhouse was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-nine of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like checkers and badminton. Her mom was planning to make plenty of dry toast and ravioli for everyone. Josephine would try to blow out all thirty-one candles on the ivory and striped cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Josephine would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a bag of groceries! She hoped it would be a striking bag of groceries. Her friend Wes had said he would give her a microphone, and her aunt always gave her cool stuff like the ticket she gave her last year. Josephine could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a humid day was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her set of scrubs. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the pasture. She would have to wear a set of dentures instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her fig leaf.
She sneaked downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like plastic. Her mom was standing there with a blender in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a chuckle.
"Hi Mommy!" Josephine replied hopelessly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the dry toast," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra chopped celery. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Josephine replied stupidly. "Do we have the ravioli ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," her mother replied suspiciously. "It only has to blend for twenty-eight minutes."
"Okay," Josephine replied deftly. "I'm gonna go to the outhouse."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some hors d'oeuvre in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the outhouse 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," Josephine responded, as she sat down to her hors d'oeuvre. "Let's hang lots of tan balloons and cover the cash register and the safe with forest green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother cheerfully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Nan Kaplan. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a slotted spoon."
"If only," Josephine responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a shrug. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."