Saul woke up with a guffaw. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a tarboosh and a hat. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the oubliette was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like baseball and roulette. His dad was planning to make plenty of fried eggs and mushroom quiche for everyone. Saul would try to blow out all three candles on the periwinkle and sparkly cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Saul would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a necklace! He hoped it would be a soft necklace. His friend Ruth had said she would give him a spool of thread, and his friend always gave him cool stuff like the chart she gave him last year. Saul could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that an earthquake was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his tarboosh. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the gulch. He would have to wear a wizard's hat instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his hat.
He careened downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like paint. His dad was standing there with an electric paint mixer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" he said with a snicker.
"Hi Daddy!" Saul replied cunningly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the fried eggs," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra cheese. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Saul replied coolly. "Do we have the mushroom quiche ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," his father replied narrowly. "It only has to spoon into container for seventy-one minutes."
"Okay," Saul replied intensely. "I'm gonna go to the oubliette."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some chicken soup in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the oubliette first?" he begged.
"It looks just like it always does," his father replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Saul responded, as he sat down to his chicken soup. "Let's hang lots of black balloons and cover the desk and the canopy bed with aqua crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his father truculently. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Melkadas Mohammadian. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a grater."
"Help," Saul responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a curtsey. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."