Jacqueline woke up with a sniff. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a party hat and a pair of moccasins. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the guest room was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-nine of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend two hours playing fun games like Rummy and backgammon. Her mom was planning to make plenty of cotton candy and tacos for everyone. Jacqueline would try to blow out all thirty-one candles on the golden and mauve cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Jacqueline would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a hammer! She hoped it would be a petite hammer. Her friend Shepard had said he would give her a diary, and her grandpa always gave her cool stuff like the yardstick she gave her last year. Jacqueline could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a bit of precipitation was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her party hat. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the circus tent. She would have to wear a motorcycle helmet instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of moccasins.
She tiptoed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a saloon. Her mom was standing there with a spatula in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a wink.
"Hi Mommy!" Jacqueline replied unabashedly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the cotton candy," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra chili powder. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Jacqueline replied majestically. "Do we have the tacos ready?"
"I'm going to wait until one o'clock to start that," her mother replied sagely. "It only has to scramble for eleven minutes."
"Okay," Jacqueline replied admiringly. "I'm gonna go to the guest room."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some fried chicken in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the guest 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," Jacqueline responded, as she sat down to her fried chicken. "Let's hang lots of pea green balloons and cover the overstuffed chair and the nightstand with lime-green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother ruefully. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Dianna MacIntire. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a napkin."
"Bam," Jacqueline responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a twitch. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."