Alison woke up with a hoot. Today was her birthday! She was going to have a lot of fun today. First, she would dress up in a cocktail dress and a pair of glasses. Then, she would run downstairs to see if the oubliette was decorated and ready for the party. They had invited twenty-seven of her closest friends. When everyone arrived, they would spend four hours playing fun games like bridge and crazy eights. Her dad was planning to make plenty of pretzels and pancakes for everyone. Alison would try to blow out all thirty-two candles on the chocolate brown and ivory cake. While the guests were eating their cake, Alison would be opening her gifts. Maybe the first package would contain an iPad! She hoped it would be a frilly iPad. Her friend Sylvia had said she would give her a bird feeder, and her grandma always gave her cool stuff like the hacksaw she gave her last year. Alison 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 cocktail dress. It wasn't there. Uh oh. It was still dirty from her day at the hayfield. She would have to wear a belt buckle instead. She didn't really care, as long as she could still wear her pair of glasses.
She staggered downstairs and went into the kitchen. It smelled like a bouquet. Her dad was standing there with an egg cutter in his hand. "Happy Birthday Honey!" he said with a smirk.
"Hi Daddy!" Alison replied excitedly. "What are you doing?"
"I'm making the pretzels," he replied. "I decided to make it with extra Tabasco sauce. Hope that's okay with you."
"I guess so," Alison replied surreptitiously. "Do we have the pancakes ready?"
"I'm going to wait until five o'clock to start that," her father replied narrowly. "It only has to roast for eighty-seven minutes."
"Okay," Alison replied crazily. "I'm gonna go to the oubliette."
"First, young lady, you need to have some breakfast. I've got some sweet potatoes 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," Alison responded, as she sat down to her sweet potatoes. "Let's hang lots of blue balloons and cover the ping-pong table and the mattress with crimson crepe paper."
"That's fine," said her father joyously. "The paper plates and napkins have pictures of your favorite singer, Nakisha Snitley. Set the table with them, and make sure everyone has a candy thermometer."
"Scat," Alison responded. "I'm done, can I get started with the decorating now?"
"I think you inhaled your food," said Father with a crow. "Go on, I'll be there in a few minutes."