Mrs. Moody in The Birthday Jinx (Judy Moody and Friends) Page 2

  Mom/Mummy lay back down and

  drifted off to sleep again.

  “Acorn Lake, Alice, Artichoke, Bald

  Eagle Lake . . . ,” Judy murmured.

  Click-click, click-click, click-click-click.

  “Are the crickets back?” Mom

  asked, opening her eyes. “Why do

  I feel like I’m counting lakes in my

  sleep?”

  55

  “Oops, sorry,” said Judy. “We’re

  using your Dynamo Office Buddy

  2000 to label the lakes in Minnesota.”

  “Dynamo,” said Mom. She pulled

  the sleeping bag up over her ears.

  Chirr-up. Chirr-up. Ribbet.

  “Big McDonald, Big Rice, Button

  Box . . . ” Stink mumbled as he glued.

  Click-click-click.

  EEE-EEE-EEE! EEE-EEE-EEE!

  Mom bolted upright. “Fire! Call

  nine-one-one!”

  EEE-EEE-EEE!

  57

  All at once, the screeching stopped.

  Dad came hurrying out of the

  kitchen. “A million sorries. I was

  baking your cake and set off the

  smoke alarm,” he said. “How was

  your nap?”

  “Eventful,” said Mom. “I think I’ve

  had enough nap for one day.”

  58

  A half hour later, Dad called,

  “Carrot-cake time!” Everybody

  crowded around the dining-room

  table and stared.

  “Holy guacamole!” said Judy.

  “Why is it . . . pukey green?” Stink

  asked.

  “Avocado,” said Dad. “I mashed

  some into the icing. I thought it

  would go well with the carrots.”

  Judy gulped. Stink gagged.

  Dad turned out the lights and lit

  the candles.

  “Make a wish!” Judy called.

  Mom squeezed her eyes shut.

  Mom made a wish. Mom blew out

  the candles.

  60

  Dad cut the cake. The inside of the

  cake did not look very carroty.

  “Um, Dad, why is the carrot cake

  white?” Judy couldn’t help asking.

  “I thought it was strange, too,” said

  Dad. “When I took the carrots out of

  the fridge, they seemed awfully pale

  to me.”

  Mom started to laugh.

  61

  “What’s so funny?” asked Dad.

  “Those weren’t carrots,” said Mom.

  “We’re all out of carrots. Those were

  parsnips.”

  Dad’s face went as white as the

  cake. “I made you parsnip cake?”

  62

  It was no use. Mom’s birthday was

  jinxed. Judy scribbled out an IOU

  and handed it to her mother. “Mom,

  we owe you one un-jinxed birthday.

  Can we do over Mom’s birthday

  tomorrow, Dad?”

  63

  “Please, no!” said Mom. “I

  mean — one birthday is enough to

  last me a whole year.”

  “I bet I know what you wished

  when you blew out the candles,” said

  Judy. “I bet you wished that your

  birthday was not jinxed.”

  “My birthday was not jinxed,” said

  Mom.

  64

  “But you didn’t get to eat dead fish

  like you wanted,” said Stink.

  “No, but I did get to eat all my

  vegetables for the day in one slice of

  birthday cake.”

  “And you didn’t get to go on a

  nature walk or see a snowy owl,” said

  Judy.

  “I didn’t need to,” said Mom. “I

  had a cricket-and-frog symphony in

  my very own living room.”

  “You couldn’t even take a nap with

  all the noise,” said Judy.

  “Noise is the sound of family,” said

  Mom. “And the best birthdays are full

  of noise.”

  Judy, Stink, Mom, and Dad piled

  onto the couch in one big snuggle.

  “Birthday hug!” called Judy.

  66

  And the hug did not look one bit

  like a monkey.

  Mom wrapped the sleeping bag

  around them.

  Chirr-up! Chirr-up! Ribbet!