Mrs. Rudder is the neighbor who lives below Fudge's apartment. She hears a lot of noise coming from her upstairs neighbors, the Hatchers, and feels as though the ceiling will crash down on her. Worried, Mrs. Rudder shows up at Fudge Hatcher's apartment to investigate what is going on. Fudge's mother explains that it is Fudge's birthday and that they are hosting a party. All of the noise that Mrs. Rudder was hearing from her apartment downstairs was the result of Peter (Fudge's brother) blowing up balloons, handing one to each of his young guests (who proceed to stomp around the apartment with their balloons), and dancing to the music being played on the record player.

As a peace offering, Fudge's mother asks Mrs. Rudder to stay and have a piece of cake while the kids are celebrating Fudge's birthday. As a result, Mrs. Rudder ends up attending Fudge's birthday party in Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.

In the story, Mrs. Rudder comes to Fudge's birthday party by accident. Because she lives in the apartment downstairs, she can hear all the commotion above her.

Meanwhile, up at the Hatcher apartment, Peter (Fudge's brother) has just blown up a lot of balloons. He hands each of Fudge's little guests balloons and then proceeds to dance around with his balloon. Fudge's friends, Ralph, Jennie, and Sam, soon follow suit. All the children dance around with their balloons to the record player's tunes. They even jump on the furniture and run around the apartment; in general, they make so much noise that Mrs. Rudder is forced to come up and investigate the reason for all the ruckus.

In fact, Mrs. Rudder tells Peter's mother that it felt as if "her ceiling was about to crash in on her any second." Meanwhile, Peter's mother explains that Fudge is having a birthday party. She invites Mrs. Rudder to stay and to eat a piece of birthday cake. This is how Mrs. Rudder comes to attend Fudge's birthday party.