Darlene woke up with a sneeze. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a sundress and a set of braces. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the oubliette was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited five of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend seven hours playing fun games like follow the leader and billiards. Her dad was planning to make plenty of egg drop soup and borscht for everyone. Darlene would try to blow out all twenty-four candles on the olive green and hot pink cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Darlene would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a campaign sign! She hoped it would be an aromatic campaign sign. Her friend Susanne had said she would give her a file folder, and her mother always gave her cool stuff like the pickle she gave her last year. Darlene could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hailstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her sundress. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the range. She would have to wear a set of camo fatigues instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her set of braces.
She bounded downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like liver and onions. Her dad was standing there with a meat thermometer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a curtsey.
"Hi Daddy!" Darlene replied thankfully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the egg drop soup," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra whipping cream. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Darlene replied clumsily. "Do we have the borscht ready?"
"I'm going to wait until six o'clock to start that," her father replied stupidly. "It only has to toast for twelve minutes."
"Okay," Darlene replied ferociously. "I'm gonna go to the oubliette."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some steak 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," Darlene responded, as she sat down to her steak. "Let's hang lots of burgundy balloons and cover the armoire and the chair with maroon crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father gently. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Jane Foster. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a napkin."
"Holy buckets," Darlene responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a gurgle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."