Nellie woke up with an evil eye. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a hoodie and a pair of briefs. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the oubliette was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited four of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like tag and rummy. Her dad was planning to make plenty of apple pie and lime sherbet for everyone. Nellie would try to blow out all twenty-eight candles on the azure and emerald green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Nellie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a toilet plunger! She hoped it would be an excellent toilet plunger. Her friend Bettie Lou had said she would give her an ashtray, and her mom always gave her cool stuff like the microphone she gave her last year. Nellie could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a windstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her hoodie. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the island. She would have to wear a pair of briefs instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of briefs.
She went downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a feed lot. Her dad was standing there with a Sham-Wow! in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a coo.
"Hi Daddy!" Nellie replied gracefully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the apple pie," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra tomato sauce. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Nellie replied sharply. "Do we have the lime sherbet ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," her father replied effortlessly. "It only has to freeze for twenty-five minutes."
"Okay," Nellie replied languidly. "I'm gonna go to the oubliette."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some cookies 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 father replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Nellie responded, as she sat down to her cookies. "Let's hang lots of sparkly balloons and cover the coffee table and the counter with fuchsia crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father surreptitiously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Nicole Trane. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a corkscrew."
"Thunderation," Nellie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a shiver. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."