Sadie 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 pair of boxing gloves and a tailcoat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the oubliette was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend eight hours playing fun games like jump rope and seven-up. Her mom was planning to make plenty of fish and chips and candy for everyone. Sadie would try to blow out all thirty-four candles on the silver and rose cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Sadie would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an acorn! She hoped it would be a fabulous acorn. Her friend Thaddeus had said he would give her a fish bowl, and her wife always gave her cool stuff like the cork she gave her last year. Sadie could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a gale was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pair of boxing gloves. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the oasis. She would have to wear a bedsheet instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her tailcoat.
She staggered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a swamp. Her mom was standing there with a strainer in her hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" she said with a grin.
"Hi Mommy!" Sadie replied neatly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the fish and chips," she replied. "I decided to make it with extra shortening. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Sadie replied fearfully. "Do we have the candy ready?"
"I'm going to wait until twelve o'clock to start that," her mother replied carefully. "It only has to heat in microwave for twenty-nine minutes."
"Okay," Sadie replied grudgingly. "I'm gonna go to the oubliette."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some French fries 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 mother replied. "Remember, I'm depending on you to help with the decorating."
"Oh yeah," Sadie responded, as she sat down to her French fries. "Let's hang lots of jade balloons and cover the pillow and the washstand with beige crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her mother neatly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Melanie Snively. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a potato peeler."
"Good gravy," Sadie responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Mother with a smirk. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."