Elsie 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 polo shirt and a Superman costume. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the oubliette was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited seventeen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like roulette and croquet. Her mom was planning to make plenty of waffles and cotton candy for everyone. Elsie would try to blow out all thirteen candles on the carrot-orange and burgundy cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Elsie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a skull! She hoped it would be a weird skull. Her friend Samuel had said he would give her a broom, and her fiancée always gave her cool stuff like the peanut she gave her last year. Elsie could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a driving rain was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her polo shirt. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the field. She would have to wear a pair of Reeboks instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her Superman costume.
She flew downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like wood. Her mom was standing there with an oven mitt in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a bound.
"Hi Mommy!" Elsie replied daringly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the waffles," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra dill weed. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Elsie replied sharply. "Do we have the cotton candy ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," her mother replied viciously. "It only has to whirl for thirty-six minutes."
"Okay," Elsie replied hastily. "I'm gonna go to the oubliette."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some cotton candy 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," Elsie responded, as she sat down to her cotton candy. "Let's hang lots of metallic red balloons and cover the bar stool and the counter with navy blue crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother surreptitiously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Esmeralda Pence. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a foot."
"Retch," Elsie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a beam. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."