Elinor woke up with a pucker. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a beret and a pair of galoshes. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the oubliette was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-six of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like doctor and dodge ball. Her dad was planning to make plenty of lamb curry and dirty rice for everyone. Elinor would try to blow out all twelve candles on the aqua and camouflage cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Elinor would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a flyswatter! She hoped it would be a brightly-colored flyswatter. Her friend Brandie had said she would give her an orange, and her grandma always gave her cool stuff like the box of Kleenex she gave her last year. Elinor could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dense fog was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her beret. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the plain. She would have to wear a nightgown instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of galoshes.
She zipped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like June roses. Her dad was standing there with a strainer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a grin.
"Hi Daddy!" Elinor replied greedily. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the lamb curry," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra anchovy. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Elinor replied cleverly. "Do we have the dirty rice ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," her father replied woefully. "It only has to braise for eighty minutes."
"Okay," Elinor replied energetically. "I'm gonna go to the oubliette."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some sauerkraut 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," Elinor responded, as she sat down to her sauerkraut. "Let's hang lots of blue balloons and cover the windowsill and the filing cabinet with maroon crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father testily. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Mia Stringer. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a food processor."
"Aaah," Elinor responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a kiss. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."