Jordan woke up with a death glare. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of handcuffs and a mouse costume. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the dining room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-three of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like doctor and Mother May I. Her mom was planning to make plenty of jambalaya and spaghetti for everyone. Jordan would try to blow out all thirteen candles on the polka dotted and aqua cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Jordan would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a rope! She hoped it would be a plastic rope. Her friend Alexander had said he would give her a pencil, and her mother-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the cane she gave her last year. Jordan could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a drought was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pair of handcuffs. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the veld. She would have to wear a bib instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her mouse costume.
She strode downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like gasoline. Her mom was standing there with a pastry blender in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a raspberry.
"Hi Mommy!" Jordan replied arrogantly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the jambalaya," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra baking soda. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Jordan replied cleverly. "Do we have the spaghetti ready?"
"I'm going to wait until four o'clock to start that," her mother replied stupidly. "It only has to deep fry for four minutes."
"Okay," Jordan replied sourly. "I'm gonna go to the dining room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some omelet in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the dining room 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," Jordan responded, as she sat down to her omelet. "Let's hang lots of blue balloons and cover the bathtub and the crib with sparkly crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother gleefully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Dolores Owens. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an egg cutter."
"Cowabunga," Jordan responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a honk. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."