Joyce woke up with a cackle. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a tattoo and a wizard's hat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the foyer was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited thirty of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like marbles and crazy eights. Her mom was planning to make plenty of doughnuts and crumb cake for everyone. Joyce would try to blow out all twenty-one candles on the violet and terra cotta cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Joyce would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an ingot of plutonium! She hoped it would be a multicolored ingot of plutonium. Her friend JD had said he would give her a basketball, and her grandfather always gave her cool stuff like the doily she gave her last year. Joyce could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a tornado was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her tattoo. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the seashore. She would have to wear a diamond bracelet instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her wizard's hat.
She ambled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like baking cookies. Her mom was standing there with a slotted spoon in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a growl.
"Hi Mommy!" Joyce replied blankly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the doughnuts," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra heavy cream. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Joyce replied glumly. "Do we have the crumb cake ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," her mother replied properly. "It only has to microwave for twenty-four minutes."
"Okay," Joyce replied joyously. "I'm gonna go to the foyer."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some shrimp 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," Joyce responded, as she sat down to her shrimp. "Let's hang lots of forest green balloons and cover the overstuffed chair and the dresser with fuchsia crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother carelessly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Charlotte Ali. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a knife."
"Yes," Joyce 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."