Sydney woke up with a jeer. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a gown 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 thirty of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like ring around the rosie and charades. Her dad was planning to make plenty of enchiladas and crumb cake for everyone. Sydney would try to blow out all seven candles on the magenta and red cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Sydney would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a chain! She hoped it would be a speckled chain. Her friend Jeanne had said she would give her a piece of candy, and her girlfriend always gave her cool stuff like the comb she gave her last year. Sydney could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a hurricane was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her gown. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the park. She would have to wear a pair of suspenders instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her belly button jewel.
She made a beeline downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like roast turkey. Her dad was standing there with a strainer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a cackle.
"Hi Daddy!" Sydney replied pitifully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the enchiladas," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra salmon. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Sydney replied intensely. "Do we have the crumb cake ready?"
"I'm going to wait until three o'clock to start that," her father replied deftly. "It only has to grill for seventy-four minutes."
"Okay," Sydney replied silently. "I'm gonna go to the oubliette."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some ice cream 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," Sydney responded, as she sat down to her ice cream. "Let's hang lots of jet black balloons and cover the pool table and the desk with golden crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father recklessly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Helga Barducci. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an ice pick."
"Umm," Sydney responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a sneer. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."