Ginger woke up with a raised eyebrow. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a headscarf and a pair of toe shoes. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the kitchen was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-five of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like battleship and hopscotch. Her mom was planning to make plenty of chopped liver and cinnamon toast for everyone. Ginger would try to blow out all fourteen candles on the violet and jet black cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Ginger would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an iPod! She hoped it would be a weird iPod. Her friend Biff had said he would give her a ping-pong paddle, and her sister-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the painting she gave her last year. Ginger could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that an ice storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her headscarf. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the village. She would have to wear an Armani suit instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of toe shoes.
She tumbled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like cigarettes. Her mom was standing there with a food processor in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a squint.
"Hi Mommy!" Ginger replied joyously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the chopped liver," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra chicken broth. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Ginger replied madly. "Do we have the cinnamon toast ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," her mother replied furiously. "It only has to sauté for ten minutes."
"Okay," Ginger replied thankfully. "I'm gonna go to the kitchen."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some pancakes in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the kitchen 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 pancakes. "Let's hang lots of burgundy balloons and cover the couch and the footstool with teal crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother craftily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Morgan Diaz. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a pair of tongs."
"Zowie," Ginger responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a curtsey. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."