Pam woke up with a bound. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a bandana and a belly button jewel. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the oubliette was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited one of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend one hour playing fun games like battleship and hopscotch. Her dad was planning to make plenty of mulligan stew and lasagna for everyone. Pam would try to blow out all twenty-nine candles on the camouflage and khaki cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Pam would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a rag! She hoped it would be a cardboard rag. Her friend Starla had said she would give her a Helmholz resonator, and her mother-in-law always gave her cool stuff like the umbrella she gave her last year. Pam could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a sandstorm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her bandana. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the creek. She would have to wear a bulletproof vest instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her belly button jewel.
She struggled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like gingerbread. Her dad was standing there with a candy thermometer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a yawn.
"Hi Daddy!" Pam replied miserably. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the mulligan stew," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra corn syrup. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Pam replied merrily. "Do we have the lasagna ready?"
"I'm going to wait until ten o'clock to start that," her father replied humbly. "It only has to whirl for thirty-one minutes."
"Okay," Pam replied crossly. "I'm gonna go to the oubliette."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some blueberry pie 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," Pam responded, as she sat down to her blueberry pie. "Let's hang lots of rose balloons and cover the canopy bed and the catbird seat with rose crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father courteously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Constance Abrams. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a spatula."
"Ppppbbbft," Pam responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a chortle. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."