Nakisha woke up with a flinch. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a belly button jewel and a kilt. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the nursery was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twelve of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like musical chairs and Monopoly. Her dad was planning to make plenty of jambalaya and lobster bisque for everyone. Nakisha would try to blow out all five candles on the purple and forest green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Nakisha would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a radio! She hoped it would be a colossal radio. Her friend Penny had said she would give her a bell, and her cousin always gave her cool stuff like the ping-pong paddle she gave her last year. Nakisha could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dust storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her belly button jewel. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the path. She would have to wear a fig leaf instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her kilt.
She skidded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like sour milk. Her dad was standing there with a potato masher in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a finger gun.
"Hi Daddy!" Nakisha replied stupidly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the jambalaya," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra rice noodles. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Nakisha replied bravely. "Do we have the lobster bisque ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," her father replied hopefully. "It only has to grill for sixty-two minutes."
"Okay," Nakisha replied valiantly. "I'm gonna go to the nursery."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some fish and chips in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the nursery first?" she begged.
"It looks just like it always does," her father replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Nakisha responded, as she sat down to her fish and chips. "Let's hang lots of blue balloons and cover the chair and the stool with olive green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father hungrily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Brittany Seaman. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a Sham-Wow!."
"Yay," Nakisha responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a raspberry. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."