• bbdesignzs
• 2 Comments on J-Girl and the Secret Birthday Key
• June 12, 2024

Jacinta, better known as J-Girl, woke up on her 10th birthday with only one thing on her mind: cake.
Not balloons, not presents, not even the fact she was finally double digits. Just cake.

She tore down the stairs in her pyjamas, hair sticking out in every possible direction like a hedgehog caught in the wind.

“Happy Birthday, J-Girl!” her family cheered. The kitchen was filled with pink and blue streamers, though her dad was still tangled up in one like a trapped superhero.

On the table sat a mountain of presents. J-Girl pounced. She ripped open a sparkly box covered in birthday stickers, and inside was something very odd: a tiny golden key.

“What’s this for?” she asked. The key shimmered as if it was laughing.

“It’s not from us,” said Mum, looking confused. Dad, meanwhile, was still battling the streamers.

Before anyone could blink, the key wriggled free, zoomed across the kitchen, and slid straight into the cupboard under the stairs.

“Oi! That’s not yours!” J-Girl shouted, chasing after it. She yanked open the cupboard, expecting umbrellas and the moody vacuum cleaner, but instead found a glowing doorway.

Typical. Some kids get socks. She got a magic portal.

She stepped through.

On the other side was Wishington, a land where birthdays never ended. Enormous cupcakes marched down the street. Balloons bounced like kangaroos. A brass band of llamas in party hats played “Happy Birthday” badly.

A chubby little creature with icing on its nose waddled up. “Welcome, J-Girl! I’m Sprinkle, Keeper of the Key. You’ve been chosen to unlock today’s happiness!”

J-Girl raised an eyebrow. “Can I unlock some cake first?”

“Not yet!” Sprinkle giggled. “First you must answer three riddles of kindness.”

The first riddle came from a balloon seller: “What costs nothing but makes everyone rich?”

“A smile,” J-Girl answered. All the balloons squealed with joy and floated skyward.

The second riddle rolled over on roller-skates shaped like doughnuts: “What grows bigger the more you share it?”

“Love,” said J-Girl. The doughnuts spun in circles, showering sprinkles everywhere.

The third riddle was delivered by a very serious llama in a bow tie: “What belongs to you but is used by others all the time?”

“My name,” J-Girl grinned. The llama bowed.

The golden key glowed brighter and brighter until the enormous doors of the Great Cake Hall creaked open. Inside stood a cake taller than Dad, with frosting piled high and a tiny DJ bouncing on top, blasting birthday tunes.

The crowd cheered, Sprinkle did a backflip, and J-Girl laughed so hard her sides hurt. She had solved the riddles, unlocked the joy, and earned the biggest slice of magical cake in all of Wishington.

When she blinked, she was back in her own kitchen, fork in hand, mouth full of chocolate sponge.

“Good cake?” Mum asked.

J-Girl nodded. “Best. Birthday. Ever.”