Rock woke up with a shrug. Today was his birthday! He was going to have a lot of fun today. First, he would dress up in a pith helmet and a skeleton costume. Then, he would run downstairs to see if the oubliette was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited five of his closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend three hours playing fun games like hide and seek and tag. His mom was planning to make plenty of bonbons and pancakes for everyone. Rock would try to blow out all twenty-nine candles on the red and magenta cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Rock would be opening his gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a balloon! He hoped it would be a crisp balloon. His friend Zack had said he would give him a pot, and his cousin always gave him cool stuff like the fossil she gave him last year. Rock could hardly wait!
He glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hurricane was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. He looked in his closet for his pith helmet. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from his day at the lakeside. He would have to wear a cap instead. He didn't really care, as long as he could still wear his skeleton costume.
He zoomed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like an ashtray. His mom was standing there with a paring knife in her hand. "Happy Birthday Son!" she said with a pound of the chest.
"Hi Mommy!" Rock replied oddly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the bonbons," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra strawberries. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Rock replied pityingly. "Do we have the pancakes ready?"
"I'm going to wait until two o'clock to start that," his mother replied arrogantly. "It only has to spoon into container for seventy-six minutes."
"Okay," Rock replied majestically. "I'm gonna go to the oubliette."
"First, young man, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some tacos in the skillet for you."
"Can't I just take a peek at the oubliette first?" he begged.
"It looks just like it always does," his mother replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Rock responded, as he sat down to his tacos. "Let's hang lots of orange balloons and cover the wine rack and the pillow with scarlet crepe paper."
"That's fine," said his mother silently. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Gina McDermott. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an egg cutter."
"Great," Rock responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a raspberry. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."