Lynn woke up with a face palm. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a pair of dungarees and a wizard's hat. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the oubliette was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited nine of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend six hours playing fun games like Monopoly and duck duck goose. Her dad was planning to make plenty of roast turkey and crab rangoon for everyone. Lynn would try to blow out all twenty-four candles on the grey and lime-green cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Lynn would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an arrowhead! She hoped it would be a modern arrowhead. Her friend Ruby had said she would give her a toothbrush, and her aunt always gave her cool stuff like the Rubik's cube she gave her last year. Lynn could hardly wait!
She glanced out the window and was surprised to see that a dense fog was on its way. Hopefully, that wouldn't deter anyone from coming. She looked in her closet for her pair of dungarees. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the landfill. She would have to wear a bathrobe instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her wizard's hat.
She barrelled downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a Christmas tree. Her dad was standing there with a meat thermometer in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a death glare.
"Hi Daddy!" Lynn replied pitifully. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the roast turkey," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra Italian sausage. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Lynn replied trustingly. "Do we have the crab rangoon ready?"
"I'm going to wait until nine o'clock to start that," her father replied uselessly. "It only has to bake at 450 degrees F for twenty-three minutes."
"Okay," Lynn replied threateningly. "I'm gonna go to the oubliette."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some pretzels 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," Lynn responded, as she sat down to her pretzels. "Let's hang lots of periwinkle balloons and cover the sofa and the workbench with aquamarine crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father madly. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite Tv star, Kendra Stucky. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a cookie cutter."
"Chirp," Lynn responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a smirk. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."