Junie B. Jones Is a Party Animal (3 page)

Me and that Grace ran to play with them.

“NO! STOP! DON’T!” shouted Lucille. “YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED TO TOUCH THEM! THEY ARE JUST FOR SHOW!”

“Huh?” said that Grace.

“What?” I said. “How come?”

“Because they were expensive,
that’s
how come,” she said. “Those animals costed my nanna a fortune.”

“Oh,” I said kind of disappointed.

“Oh,” said that Grace.

We sat down on Lucille’s bed.

Lucille shouted at us again. “NO! GET UP! YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED TO SIT THERE! THAT BEDSPREAD IS JUST FOR SHOW!”

Me and that Grace springed right off of there.

Lucille quick smoothed the material with her hand.

“Don’t you two know
anything?”
she said. “This bedspread is made out of
silk
, I told you. I’m not allowed to get it soiled.”

“Oh,” I said.

“Oh,” said that Grace.

After that, Lucille skipped over to her dresser. And she pressed a button on her mirror.

A million bazillion lights came on!

“Look at this,” she said. “This is my very own professional makeup mirror! It is the same kind of mirror that they use for movie stars. My nanna brought it all the way from Hollywood, California!”

Me and that Grace runned to the sparkly
mirror. We looked at ourselves in the bright lights.

Then we sticked out our tongues and made funny faces.

Lucille quick turned it off.

“It is
not
a toy!” she grouched.

After that, me and that Grace just stood
very still. And we didn’t touch anything.

“This is going to be a long evening,” I said kind of quiet.

Only just then, something very wonderful happened!

Lucille’s nanna came in the room! And she was carrying a big box of dress-up clothes!

“I thought you little gals might have fun with some of my old evening gowns,” she said real nice. “They’re as old as the hills. But they’re still quite stunning.”

Lucille runned to the box speedy quick.

“Let’s play Cinderella!” she said.

She pulled out a beautiful, sparkly pink gown.

“I’M CINDERELLA!” she shouted.

Then that Grace shoved me out of her way. And she runned to the box, too.

She pulled out a sparkly
blue
gown.

“I’M THE FAIRY GODMOTHER!” she yelled.

I did a huffy breath at those two. ’Cause now I had to be the ugly stepsisters, probably.

I bended down and searched through the box very careful.

Then all of a sudden, my hands felt something long and silky and softie.

I quick pulled it out of there.

The nanna’s whole face lighted up.

“Oh my goodness! My old feather boa!” she said. “Why, I haven’t seen that thing in years!”

I danced all around with that lovely thing.

“I love this, Nanna! I love this old feather boa!”

Just then, another great idea popped in my brain.

“Hey! I know! I will be the famous singer that sings at Cinderella’s ball!”

Lucille and Grace looked funny at me.

“What singer?” said Lucille.

“There’s no singer,” said that Grace.

I stamped my foot at them.

“Yes, there is! There is, too, a singer! And I am her! And my name is Florence the Famous Singer! And I will be performing
show tunes from the hit musical
Annie!
So there!”

Lucille and Grace shrugged their shoulders at me.

Then they dressed up in their beautiful gowns.

And they went to the ball.

And I sang “The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow.”

After we finished playing Cinderella, the nanna called us to dinner.

Me and Lucille and that Grace skipped into the big dining room. We sat at a long, shiny table.

Pretty soon, Lucille’s nanna came in from the kitchen. And she gave us our dinner.

And guess what?

Its name was beans and Frank!

“Hurray!” I said. “Hurray for beans and
Frank! ’Cause this is my favorite kind of home cooking!”

The nanna did a teeny smile.

“Well, we usually have a cook. But I gave her the night off,” she said.

After that, the nanna poured milk into beautiful sparkly glasses.

“Oooo, Nanna! These are your best crystal glasses!” said Lucille real thrilled. “I love these expensive things!”

“Me, too! I love these expensive things, too!” I said.

Only too bad for me. ’Cause nobody even told me that crystal glasses were very heavy.

And so when I picked up my glass, it slipped right out of my hand.

And it fell on the floor!

And it broke into lots of pieces!

Lucille’s whole mouth came open.

“OH NO! YOU BROKE IT! YOU BROKE MY NANNA’S CRYSTAL GLASS!”

The nanna’s face was reddish and scrunchy.

“Sorry, Nanna,” I said real soft. “Sorry I broke your crystal glass.”

The nanna sucked her cheeks way into her head.

“Let’s just try to be more careful, shall we, dear?” she said.

I bobbed my head up and down.

“We shall,” I said back.

After that, I ate my beans and Frank very careful. Only pretty soon, my Frank spilled off my fork. And he landed on the nanna’s white tablecloth.

“OH NO!” hollered Lucille. “THAT’S MY NANNA’S GOOD LINEN TABLECLOTH!
SHE BROUGHT IT ALL THE WAY FROM IRELAND!”

The nanna’s face was twisty and puffy.

I quick pushed my plate away from me.

My stomach felt in a tight knot.

“Yeah, only guess what? I am not actually hungry anymore. And so I will just sit here and not spill anything, I think.”

The nanna cleaned up my messes with a wet cloth.

After she finished, she brought us chocolate ice cream for dessert.

Only too bad for me. ’Cause a teeny plop of ice cream dropped right off my spoon. And it landed on my chair cushion.

The nanna did a big breath.

“You’re a bit of a bull in a china shop, aren’t you, dear?” she said.

“Sorry, Nanna,” I said. “Sorry, sorry, sorry.”

The nanna patted my hand very stiffish.

“Quite all right,” she said kind of mumbly.

After that, I got down from the table. And me and my friends went back to Lucille’s room.

And guess what?

Things got funner!

’Cause Lucille said we could play with the games in her closet! On account of they weren’t even expensive!

First, we played Chutes and Ladders. Then we played Twister and Bingo and Chinese checkers and Tic-Tac-Toad and Candyland. Plus also we played Let’s Spin Till We Get Real Dizzy and Fall Down.

And guess what? I didn’t even break anything!

“Hey! I think I am getting the hang of this party!” I said very happy.

Just then, the nanna knocked on Lucille’s door.

“Time for you ladies to put your pajamas on,” she told us.

I danced all around the room real happy.

“Hurray!” I said “Hurray for pajamas! ’Cause I brought my favorites!”

I quick put them on.

“See them, Nanna? See how biggish and baggish they are? That is how come they feel so comfortable!”

The nanna’s eyes looked down at me.

“How very…
charming,”
she said.

Just then, that Grace jumped right in front of me.

“Look at mine, Nanna!” she said. “See
mine? My pajamas have neon-green polka dotties on them!”

“How very
…colourful
,” said the nanna.

All of a sudden, Lucille popped out of her big closet.

“Ta-da! Look at
me
, everyone! I am wearing my beauteous pink satin nightie! See me? See how lovely I look! I look like a gorgeous model in this thing!” she said.

Lucille let me and that Grace feel her material.

“How very…
smoothie
,” I said.

After that, me and Grace unrolled our sleeping bags on the floor. And the nanna took the silk bedspread off Lucille’s bed.

“Time to get your beauty sleep, Princess,” she told Lucille.

Then those two kissed and hugged good night. And the nanna shut the door.

Only guess what?

Lucille didn’t even get in bed. She kept twirling all around in her pink satin nightgown.

“This is how models twirl,” she said. “They twirl so you can see their fronts and their backs.”

Lucille wouldn’t stop twirling.

“See my front? See my back?” she said.

Me and that Grace got up on her bed to watch her twirl.

Lucille’s bed was soft and cushy.

We bounced up there a teeny bit.

Lucille stopped twirling.

“Hey! Don’t!” she said. “That bed is for beauty sleep
only!”

I patted her bed very admiring.

“Yeah, only it’s too bad we can’t actually play up here. ’Cause this mattress is a
bouncy
one,” I said.

Just then, Lucille’s face did a sneaky smile.

“Want to bounce?” she said real soft.
“Want to really,
really
bounce?”

She tippytoed to her door and looked down the hall.

“Come on,” she whispered. “Follow me.”

I grabbed Philip Johnny Bob and followed after Lucille and that Grace.

We tippytoed down the hall and around the corner.

Then Lucille opened the door to a big guest room. And there was a giant bed in that place!

“See it!” she said. “See how
huge
that bed is? My nanna had it specially made in case we have tall company!”

Lucille quick shut the door after us.

“Come on! Let’s go!” she said.

And so all of us runned to the big bed speedy quick! And we jumped and jumped and jumped on that thing!

I sang a joyful song.

It is called “Jumping, Jumping, Jumping on the Giant Bed.”

“JUMPING…JUMPING…JUMPING ON THE GIANT BED,” I sang.

Only too bad for me. ’Cause all of a sudden, I remembered something very important. And it is called
Mother and Daddy said no jumping
.

I got off the bed speedy fast.

“Yeah, only here’s the problem,” I said. “I am not actually allowed to jump. ’Cause Mother and Daddy said
no jumping
. And so you guys should stop jumping, too. ’Cause that would be polite of you.”