Nancy woke up with a sneeze. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a camisole and a romper. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the oubliette was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited fifteen of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like golf and battleship. Her dad was planning to make plenty of brownies and ramen noodles for everyone. Nancy would try to blow out all two candles on the maroon and polka dotted cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Nancy would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain a mirror! She hoped it would be a fluffy mirror. Her friend Rebecca had said she would give her a tube of toothpaste, and her grandma always gave her cool stuff like the hockey puck she gave her last year. Nancy could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a period of warm weather was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her camisole. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the circus tent. She would have to wear a bra instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her romper.
She stormed downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like coffee. Her dad was standing there with a napkin in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a titter.
"Hi Daddy!" Nancy replied boldly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the brownies," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra white wine. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Nancy replied softly. "Do we have the ramen noodles ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," her father replied lazily. "It only has to age for forty-eight minutes."
"Okay," Nancy replied tenderly. "I'm gonna go to the oubliette."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some tortillas 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," Nancy responded, as she sat down to her tortillas. "Let's hang lots of silver balloons and cover the footstool and the recliner with sparkly crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father trustingly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Ying Fritz. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has an electric paint mixer."
"Fantastic," Nancy responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a wince. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."