The Sassy Collection

by Sharon M. Draper

“Yep.” He finishes his banana.

  I decide not to yell at him about Zero eating Jasmine’s socks.

  We eat a quick breakfast of cold cereal and hot chocolate, then go outside to snap pictures of each other in our cute outfits.

  When we come back in, Jasmine and I go into the family room. Every single one of my recipe sheets and menus are on the floor. They are ripped and chewed. They are torn. Muddy paw prints cover most of them.

  “Sabin!” I scream once more. “Look what your dog has done!”

  “Oh, snap. My bad.” Sabin rushes in to pick up the tattered purple papers.

  “They’re ruined!” I am trying not to cry.

  “Let’s print some more, Sassy,” Jasmine says gently. “Look, the purple paper is still loaded in the machine.”

  “But what about all our extra decorations with the stickers and glitter pens?” I wail as we toss most of the menus in the trash.

  “If I know you, Sassy, you have plenty more glitter pens and shiny stickers hiding in that super sack of yours. Right?”

  I frown, but she’s right. I’ve got plenty of that stuff hidden down in my Sassy Sack.

  While Jasmine and Sabin pick up the rest of the messed-up menus, I reprint everything.

  Then Jasmine and I add stickers and purple and pink glitter ink around each one. It takes a long time. I think the first time we did it, everything looked better. But we finish them all. This time I place the stack on the highest shelf I can reach in the family room.

  “Please,” I beg Sabin. “Don’t let Zero ruin my party. Can you keep him tied up when the kids get here?”

  He puts his arm around me. “Okay. I promise.” He whistles for the dog. “Come on, Zero. We have to make you disappear.” They both head upstairs to Sabin’s room.

  In the kitchen, I find that Mom has bought more fresh strawberries and bananas and raspberries, plus plastic forks and spoons. I had totally forgotten about those.

  “After everybody makes their recipes, where do we eat?” Jasmine asks.

  “In the family room and the dining room,” I tell her. “Daddy is setting up folding chairs, plus kids can sit on the floor.”

  When Sadora comes downstairs, she smiles at me and Jasmine. “You two look cute!”

  “Thanks,” we say at the same time.

  “Ooh! I’ve got something for you!” She runs back upstairs. Jasmine and I look at each other.

  Sadora returns, carrying a purple visor in her hand. “Here, Jasmine,” she says. “Try this on and see what you think.”

  “Wow! Thanks, Sadora!” Jasmine slips the visor over her hair. Even though I’d thought my pink visor wouldn’t be right for a dinner party, Sadora’s purple visor looks great on Jasmine and fits perfectly. That’s when I see that a visor can work for all kinds of special events, even this one.

  “You can have it,” Sadora says with a smile. “It looks great with your outfit.”

  “Thanks so much!” Jasmine says. She runs to the mirror to check it out.

  “I heard what Zero did to your socks.” Sadora chuckles.

  I give Sadora a big hug. “You’re the best!” I whisper.

  “I’ve got play practice this morning, but I’ll be back in time for your party. Break a leg!”

  “Huh?”

  “When you’re in a play, that’s what people say to wish you good luck,” she explains.

  “Oh! Okay. I’m nervous enough without worrying about broken bones!”

  Daddy takes her to play practice, and we are left in the kitchen alone.

  I check my goodies in the freezer. They look perfect.

  I check my fruit pizzas. One is still lumpy, but they are ready.

  “I guess there’s nothing left to do but wait,” I tell Jasmine.

  “I have an idea,” Jasmine suggests. “We have extra time. We have extra bananas. So let’s make Jasmine’s Famous Creamy Banana Pudding!”

  “Now you’re naming your recipes!”

  “If you can do it, so can I,” she answers. “Actually, it’s my mom’s recipe, but we make it together all the time.”

  “What ingredients do we need?” I ask her.

  “Do you have vanilla wafers and banana pudding?”

  I check Mom’s cupboard. “Yes and yes. What do we do first?”

  “Ask your mom.”

  “Smart cookie!” I tell her. “Mom!” I call upstairs. “Can me and Jasmine make some banana pudding for the party?”

  “Do you need the stove?” she calls back.

  “Nope!”

  “Okay. Go ahead. Be careful,” she answers. Moms always add that be careful line.

  “What do we do now?” I ask Jasmine.

  “You slice the bananas and I’ll make the pudding. We need milk.”

  I get a gallon of milk from the refrigerator. The shelves are a little high for me because I’m so short, but I manage to get it out without spilling.

  I carefully peel and slice the bananas and lay them like little soldiers around the inside of Mom’s red bowl.

  “Oops! You have to line the bowl with the cookies first,” Jasmine tells me.

  “You didn’t tell me.” I take out the bananas. They feel squishy in my hand. Then I line the bowl with the vanilla wafers. Of course I eat quite a few while I’m doing it. Then I place several banana slices on top of each cookie. One at a time.

  Then another layer of cookies. And another layer of banana slices.

  Jasmine makes the pudding by adding milk to the powder and stirring really fast.

  “Whew!” she says.

  She then pours the sweet, slightly lumpy banana pudding over the cookies and bananas. We top it off with more cookies. We gobble a few as we finish.

  “You got room in the refrigerator for one more bowl?” she asks.

  “Just barely.”

  We cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge.

  We set out all the ingredients on the table and the counters.

  It’s almost time.

  We play Scrabble in the family room while we check our watches. Jasmine wins one game and I win one. The phone rings.

  I pick it up to answer. “Oh, hi, Carmelita. Yes, we are still starting at three. You’re wearing your new dress? Awesome! I can’t wait to see it.”

  Carmelita asks another question.

  “Sure, you can bring a treat! Peanut butter balls! Perfect! Tell your mom I said thanks.”

  I hang up the phone. “Carmelita’s bringing more goodies!” I tell Jasmine. “We are going to have so much food!”

  “Sounds good to me,” Jasmine says.

  Sadora comes home from play practice. “I’m going upstairs to get my camera, Sassy,” she tells me. “I’ll snap photos of everything!”

  “Thanks, Sadora,” I whisper. “And tell Sabin to keep Zero upstairs, okay?”

  “Gotcha!”

  At exactly three o’clock, my doorbell rings. Jasmine and I slap palms and run to open the door. Travis stands there with his mom. He looks a little nervous. He is wearing a white shirt and a red tie.

  My mother comes downstairs and greets them. “Thanks so much for coming!” Mom says.

  “Travis and I made his favorite pudding to share with the kids,” his mom tells my mom. “I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Oh, not at all,” my mother says. “I’m sure these kids will eat everything that’s not tied down!”

  Travis’s mom promises to pick him up at six. He looks glad when she leaves. He takes his tie off as soon as her car is out of the driveway.

  He comes into the kitchen carrying a large plastic bag.

  “I brought dirt pudding,” he says.

  “Awesome!” Jasmine says. “I love dirt pudding!”

  “Me, too,” I tell him. “Chocolate cookies crunched into chocolate pudding! Yummy!”

  “Don’t forget the worms!” he reminds us. “It’s stuffed with gummy worms.” He removes a large bowl from the bag. He sets it on the table.

  Sadora, true to her wo
rd, snaps a photo of the brown, gooey pudding. I think she gets a close-up of a worm sticking out.

  “You’re the first one here,” I tell him.

  “Not for long!” Jasmine says. She is looking out my front window. “I see Carmelita and Josephina! And right behind them are Holly and Misty.”

  The four girls come in noisily. All four are wearing dresses.

  “You didn’t get dressed up,” Misty says to me. “You said it was an elegant party!”

  “You look charming!” Sadora says. They seem to like a compliment from a real teenager. She takes a picture of the four of them.

  “As long as I can wear sparkles and not a uniform, I feel elegant,” I tell Misty.

  “You’re right. I love getting dressed up, and we never really have a chance during the week.”

  Carmelita places her peanut butter balls on the kitchen table. It is quickly getting crowded.

  Travis glances out the window. “All right!” he says. “I see the rest of the guys! I was afraid I was going to have to talk about sparkles and dresses all afternoon!”

  Rusty, Ricky, Charles, and Abdul have come in Rusty’s parents’ car.

  The house is getting crowded, too.

  Jasmine gives each person a menu and a recipe sheet.

  “Nice decorations,” Carmelita says. She touches the shiny stickers and gives me a nod.

  “Thanks,” I tell her. “Jasmine and I worked really hard on the decorations. Twice!”

  Jasmine adds, “Sassy’s brother has a dog with purple decorations stuck in his teeth!” Everybody laughs.

  Just as I start to explain what to do, Tandy, Iris, Princess, and Basima arrive one after the other. Kids are in the kitchen. Kids are in the family room.

  Princess has to go to the bathroom. Sadora takes pictures of everything.

  My mom stands on the bottom step keeping her eye on things. But she does not interfere.

  The only person who is not here is Lillian. I am a little worried. But I decide to get started anyway.

  I stand up on a kitchen chair. “Welcome to my dazzling dinner party,” I tell them all. I hold my arms up high. Sadora snaps a photo.

  “This is the first party I’ve been to that’s not for a birthday,” Misty says. “No presents.”

  “Nope, it’s not my birthday,” I tell them. “This started out as a project for Miss Armstrong. But it ended being just plain fun.”

  “So when do we eat?” Rusty asks.

  Everybody laughs.

  “You eat when you finish preparing your meal!” I explain.

  “What?”

  “You’re really gonna make us cook?”

  “I’ve never been to a party where I have to cook my own food!”

  “I like the idea!” Princess says. “We all have something to do and we all get to eat everybody’s creations.”

  I smile to thank her.

  I hold my hand up so everybody will listen. “I already made a bunch of stuff. But check the purple menu sheet. Your name is written next to your recipe. Tandy, Iris, and Basima, you get to make Sassy’s Dazzling Banana Chocolate Sprinkle Delight. All the stuff you need is right over there.”

  “Cool!” they say.

  “Carmelita, Misty, Holly, and Josephina. You get to make Sassy’s Technicolor Fruit on a Stick at the other end of the counter.”

  “Sounds easy enough,” Misty says.

  “Yep. Basically you’re just sticking fruit onto a stick. I’ve already cut it up for you.”

  Those four girls move toward the fruit.

  “Princess, can you make the soda? We have bubble-gum pink and bubble-gum blue. It’s just clear juice and food coloring and sherbet!”

  “Sure, Sassy!”

  “The cups are over there,” I say, pointing.

  “What about us?” a couple of the boys ask.

  “You get to make Sassy’s Purple Passion Milk Shake. You get to use the blender. But my mom will have a horse if you make a mess,” I warn them.

  “We got this!” Travis and Rusty say.

  “And Sassy’s Glamorous Green Shake-a-Pudding. Add the green stuff, shake, and pour.”

  “I can do that!” Abdul yells.

  “Okay! As soon as we get this done, we make our sandwiches. Then we feast!”

  For a minute, everything works perfectly. Almost.

  Jasmine starts to make a strawberry mouse. She adds the almond chips for its ears and the chocolate chips for its eyes and nose. She sticks the licorice into its back for the tail. Almost like magic, a mouse appears.

  Rusty and Ricky are pretending to be pirates. They are using the fruit skewers for swords.

  Tandy drops the bottle of chocolate sauce. A huge brown glob lands on the floor. I rush over with paper towels.

  Charles and Abdul squirt each other with cans of whipped cream.

  Misty bumps Basima’s arm. Crunchy sprinkles from the bowl Basima is holding flutter to the floor. On top of the chocolate. More paper towels.

  Travis shakes up the bottle of 7-Up as he hands it to Princess.

  I try to warn her, but she opens it too quickly. She is standing right next to Charles. He looks really surprised when cold soda sprays him in the face. More paper towels.

  But everybody is laughing and having fun. Sadora takes snapshots of it all.

  The bubble-gum soda looks awesome. Princess must have put a whole bunch of food coloring in the juice. With the strawberry sherbet floating on top, it looks like a weird pink ocean.

  “You got strawberries and soda hidden down in that sack of yours?” Carmelita asks as she gobbles a banana.

  “No, but almost everything else,” I tell her as I pull a package of candy sprinkles and a box of marbles from my sack.

  “I understand the sprinkles, but what’s with the marbles?” she asks.

  “I want you to put them in those drinking glasses,” I explain.

  “You want us to drink marbles?”

  “Of course not, silly. That’s where you and Misty and Holly and Josephina will place the fruit on skewers. The marbles will keep the fruit sticks in place.”

  Carmelita nods with understanding. “You’ve got it together, Sassy! The fruit sticks will look like flower bouquets when we’re done. Awesome!” She hurries over to the girls with the marbles.

  Jasmine and I get out the lunch meat and bread and fixings. We line up the cookie cutters so kids can cut their food into shapes. I place the meat in a fancy circle on a large tray. A slice of turkey. A slice of ham. Then chicken. Then beef. In between each I place a slice of cheese. It looks pretty when I finish. I set the tray near the edge of the kitchen table. There is no other room.

  I make a couple of sample sandwiches. I use the dragon-shaped cutter and end up with a dragon sandwich!

  “Cool!” I say.

  Lillian still has not arrived.

  Travis and Rusty start to make the purple milk shake. They pour everything into the blender. Travis puts the top on the blender. Rusty is ready to push the button to start it.

  I check the window. Finally, I see a limo pulling up to our house. It seems bigger than usual. But maybe that’s because we have never had a limo in our driveway!

  Lillian is finally here!

  I rush to the door to greet her.

  At the same time, Zero rushes down the steps.

  He seems excited to see so many kids in the house. He runs into the kitchen and greets each kid.

  Zero loves to eat. Socks. And food. So he sniffs and sniffs as he lets the kids pet him.

  “Where is Sabin?” I ask Sadora.

  “I don’t know.” She laughs as she takes a million pictures of the dog in the kitchen.

  “Get Zero out of here!” I hiss.

  Mom calls out from the family room, “Come here, Zero!”

  But Zero is too excited to listen. He sniffs the kitchen table. He puts one paw on the edge of my lovely meat tray. All the meat topples to the floor and Zero gobbles it as fast as he can.

  “Oh, no!” I cr
y out.

  The doorbell rings.

  I open it and see Lillian. She’s dressed in white jeans and a slim white top. And she’s smiling broadly.

  That’s when the kitchen turns purple.

  I turn around slowly. I hear the roar of the blender. I see the top of the blender sail across the kitchen. It lands in a bowl of chocolate.

  A purple tornado spews from the blender. Rusty and Travis are covered in purple milk shake.

  So are the ceiling, the floor, and the kitchen table.

  Mom rushes into the kitchen and switches off the blender. Every kid in the kitchen is silent.

  Sadora snaps photos of it all. I can see she’s trying to stifle her giggles.

  Sabin runs in and sees the mess. He grabs his dog and disappears in a hurry. Zero still has a piece of sliced chicken dangling from his mouth.

  Mom finally speaks. “Well, I always wanted my kitchen painted purple!” She laughs so hard she almost cries.

  When kids see that she is not really angry, they start to laugh as well.

  “I’m sorry, Mrs. Sanford,” Rusty says. “I guess I didn’t put the top of the blender on tight enough.”

  “You think?” Mom glances at the ceiling, then at Rusty. “You’re a mess, kid!”

  Rusty looks down at his shirt. It used to be yellow.

  “Sabin!” Mom calls. “Take Rusty and Travis up to your room and find them clean shirts. Show them the bathroom and let them get cleaned up.”

  “Okay, Mom.” Sabin comes down to get Rusty and Travis. Zero is not with him.

  Mom goes to find the mop.

  All this time, Lillian is standing at the front door. Her driver stands behind her, holding a large package.

  I turn to her and say with a grin, “Welcome to Sassy’s Dazzle Disaster Dinner Party!”

  “I’m sorry I’m late,” she says.

  “It’s a good thing you were,” I tell her. “You could have been covered with purple milk shake, too!”

  “Parties without problems are no fun,” she tells me. “It looks like I missed the good part.”

  “Actually, we’re just about ready to eat. Come on in!”

  She turns to the driver. “Can you set the box over there?” she asks him politely.

  “Of course, Miss Ling,” the driver says. He deposits the box in the family room. “I will be waiting for you outside,” he tells Lillian. Then he heads back to the car.