Judy Moody and Friends: Three Cheers for Good Times!

The Boss of Birthday

Every year on Mom’s birthday, something went wrong-not-right.
   Judy called it the Birthday Jinx.
   But this year was going to be different. This year, Judy would be the boss of birthday. And this year, Stink was not going to get carsick. And this year, Dad would finally bake Mom’s favorite — carrot cake.
   She, Judy Moody, would break the Birthday Jinx once and for all.
   “Hey, Stinkerbell,” Judy said to her brother, “tomorrow is Mom’s birthday. No getting sick this year. And you have to make her a really good present.”
   Stink looked up from building the United Nations Headquarters out of Snappos. “I have to make a present?” he asked.
   “You can’t buy her a pack of gum like last year.”
   “What’s wrong with gum? Mom likes gum.”
   “A handmade present says, I love you and I care. Gum does not say, I love you. Gum does not say, I care.”
   “What does gum say?”
   “Gum says, I only had a dollar.”
   “I say talking gum is a pretty good present!” said Stink.
   He looked at his Snappos. “Wait! I have an idea!”
   “And Mom’s present can’t be made of Snappos,” Judy said.
   “Rats!” said Stink.
   Next Judy went to her dad. “I’m the boss of Mom’s birthday this year,” she told him. “This year, Mom’s cake has to be carrot cake.”
   “Do I have to make it myself?”
   “From scratch,” said Judy. “Cake made from scratch says, I love you and I care.”
   “Hmm,” said Dad. “I say a talking cake is a pretty good present!”
   Finally, Judy got started on her own gift for Mom. She tried making earrings out of seashells, but she ended up with a pair of glue globs.
   She tried making a Popsicle-stick picture frame, but couldn’t eat enough Popsicles.
   Judy even tried to draw a picture of a hug, but it came out looking like a monkey.
   Judy eyed her jar of Make-a-Word beads. All she had left were X’s, Z’s, and numbers. Mom liked beads. Mom liked bracelets. Mom liked numbers; she was always talking up math. Eureka! The perfect idea.
   A phone-number bracelet!
   A phone-number bracelet was better than glue-glob earrings. Better than a Popsicle-stick picture frame. Better than a drawing of a hug. A phone-number bracelet would help break the Birthday Jinx for sure.
   That night, Judy could hardly sleep. At last it was Mom’s birthday.

Judy and Stink ran into Mom and Dad’s room and bounced on the bed. “Happy birthday, Mom!”
   Mom pulled the covers up over her head.
   “Kids,” said Dad. “We should let Mom sleep in on her birthday.”
   “Who can sleep when there are presents to open?” Judy said.
   Mom sat up and rubbed her eyes. “I’m awake now.”
   “Open my present first,” said Judy. She handed Mom a small box tied with rainbow yarn.
   Judy could not wait to see Mom’s face light up like a birthday candle! Mom tore off the wrapping. Mom lifted the lid.
   Mom’s face didn’t light up like a birthday candle.
   “A bracelet,” said Mom, “with numbers.”
   “Not just any numbers,” said Judy. “Our phone number.”
   “Sorry, wrong number!” said Stink. “That’s not even our phone number.”
   “I ran out of sevens,” Judy explained. “Just pretend the fives are sevens, Mom, and you’ll never forget our phone number.”
   “Except she will forget, because that’s not —”
   “Stink,” Dad warned.
   Stink was right. The fives-not-sevens phone-number bracelet was a bad idea. It was the Birthday Jinx all over again.
   Judy ran to her room and came back with her Six-Year Pen. “You can have this instead,” she told Mom. “It still has four years left in it. I promise.”
   “Open mine next,” Stink urged. Mom untied the shoelace ribbon. She tore off the Sunday comics.
   Inside was a rock. A painted rock with googly eyes.
   “You got Mom a rock?” Judy asked.
   “It’s a pet rock and a paperweight,” said Stink.
   “Oh, look,” said Mom. “It even says mom on the bottom.”
   “I made it by hand,” Stink told her. “That says, I care.”
   “A rock does not say I care,” Judy muttered. “Here, Mom. Open Dad’s gift.”
   Whatever Dad got, it had to break the Birthday Jinx.
   Mom tore off the wrapping paper.
   “Oh!” Mom looked surprised. “A . . . glue gun. Or is it a cake decorator?”
   “It’s a label maker,” said Dad.
   “Not just any label maker,” said Judy, reading the box. “The Dynamo Office Buddy 2000 Embosser.”
   “Now you can label the kids’ backpacks and lunch boxes and all sorts of things,” said Dad.
   “You can label my present so everybody knows it’s not just a rock,” said Stink.
   “And you can make a label that says Shelf of Honor where you can keep all your presents,” Judy said, beaming at her father.
   “Can you tell we care?” asked Stink.
   “You’re not supposed to say it, Stink,” said Judy. “The present is supposed to say it for you.”
   “But I want to make sure Mom can hear what the presents are saying.”
   “I can hear,” said Mom with a wide smile. “Loud and clear.”