Josephine woke up with a belly laugh. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a diamond bracelet and a pair of bloomers. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the cage was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited nineteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like red rover and blackjack. Her mom was planning to make plenty of borscht and bonbons for everyone. Josephine would try to blow out all thirty candles on the fuchsia and violet cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Josephine would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a dollar bill! She hoped it would be a big dollar bill. Her friend Wayne had said he would give her a chart, and her cousin always gave her cool stuff like the iPod she gave her last year. Josephine could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a pelting rainstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her diamond bracelet. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the oasis. She would have to wear a pair of earmuffs instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of bloomers.
She zipped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like fresh coffee. Her mom was standing there with a paring knife in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a woof.
"Hi Mommy!" Josephine replied repeatedly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the borscht," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra rosemary. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Josephine replied repeatedly. "Do we have the bonbons ready?"
"I'm going to wait until seven o'clock to start that," her mother replied unexpectedly. "It only has to fry for sixty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Josephine replied demurely. "I'm gonna go to the cage."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some chicken pot pie in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the cage 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 chicken pot pie. "Let's hang lots of forest green balloons and cover the coat rack and the hammock with emerald green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother brashly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Anne Naipaul. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a blender."
"Ahoy," Josephine responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a chuckle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."