Savannah woke up with a pound of the chest. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a ponytail and a pair of Crocs. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the oubliette was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-four of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend five hours playing fun games like duck duck goose and hearts. Her dad was planning to make plenty of pretzels and duck a l'orange for everyone. Savannah would try to blow out all thirteen candles on the rose and terra cotta cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Savannah would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a Bunsen burner! She hoped it would be a filthy Bunsen burner. Her friend Theresa had said she would give her a file folder, and her fiancée always gave her cool stuff like the bag of popcorn she gave her last year. Savannah could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dust storm was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her ponytail. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the bog. She would have to wear a hood instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of Crocs.
She tramped downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a stagnant pond. Her dad was standing there with an electric mixer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a smile.
"Hi Daddy!" Savannah replied glumly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pretzels," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra cornstarch. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Savannah replied clumsily. "Do we have the duck a l'orange ready?"
"I'm going to wait until eight o'clock to start that," her father replied haughtily. "It only has to whirl for sixty minutes."
"Okay," Savannah replied fearlessly. "I'm gonna go to the oubliette."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some corn on the cob 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," Savannah responded, as she sat down to her corn on the cob. "Let's hang lots of chartreuse balloons and cover the filing cabinet and the couch with pea green crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father languidly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Ethel Sorovich. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a food processor."
"Wow," Savannah responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a growl. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."