Darcy woke up with a wince. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a sombrero and a bodysuit. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the oubliette was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited thirty of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like Parcheesi and baseball. Her mom was planning to make plenty of chocolate-covered ants and shrimp for everyone. Darcy would try to blow out all nineteen candles on the green and chartreuse cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Darcy would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a shovel! She hoped it would be a shiny shovel. Her friend Harry had said he would give her a deck of cards, and her friend always gave her cool stuff like the Kindle she gave her last year. Darcy could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a flood was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her sombrero. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the desert. She would have to wear a name tag instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her bodysuit.
She rushed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like orange spice. Her mom was standing there with a cheesecloth in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a giggle.
"Hi Mommy!" Darcy replied curiously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the chocolate-covered ants," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra walrus meat. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Darcy replied carelessly. "Do we have the shrimp ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," her mother replied breathlessly. "It only has to spoon into container for eighty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Darcy replied gently. "I'm gonna go to the oubliette."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some lobster bisque in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the oubliette first?" she begged.
"It looks just like it always does," her mother replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Darcy responded, as she sat down to her lobster bisque. "Let's hang lots of carrot-orange balloons and cover the bed and the couch with polka dotted crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother strangely. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Sissy Thomas. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a knife."
"Woof," Darcy responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a hiccup. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."