Chapter 12

As I twirled the snake above my head, Cheerio leaped off Emily's lap and flew through the air toward my beard. Grabbing the end with his mouth, he pulled on it like a play toy. I think he thought it was Mousie, his white furry toy that I throw across the room for him to catch. Anyway, he yanked on it with all his might. "Cheerio, get down," I said in my wizard voice. "How do you know my dog's name?" Emily called out. Oops. "The wizard knows all," I said, covering my mistake. I should have known that Cheerio would

recognized my scent. He sniffed the air, his little brown nose working as hard as it could. He was so glad to see me, he jumped up even higher, getting a big hunk of my beard in his mouth. He tugged and growled at it, just like we do when we wrestle with Mousie. I tried desperately to hold on to my beard. But Cheerio thought we were playing, and pulled even harder. With one mighty tug, he yanked the entire beard off my face, pulling the sunglasses off along with it. I watched in horror as the beard and sunglasses went flying through the air. I just stood there with my own face hanging out. All the little kids burst into wild laughter. Ashley took off after my beard, which was still stuck in Cheerio's mouth. Frankie, good friend that he is, tried to save the day. "As you can see, kids, the wizard has

magical powers and can change his face to look like anybody." "That's not anybody!" Emily screamed. "It's just my goofball brother, Hank." "Okay," I said. "It is me. But I still made a snake appear, didn't I? And how cool is that! Happy birthday, sis." "You call that a snake?" Emily cried. "I call that a thing that you got on sale at the ninety- nine-cent store." All the kids were howling with laughter now, but not Emily. She looked like she was going to cry. "Hey, Emily," Eugie called out. "You promised us a real snake, not some stupid rubber thing." Emily stood up and started to run to her bedroom. My mom caught her halfway. "Well, we still have delicious cake, everyone," she said, trying extra hard to be cheerful. "Emily, come on. Let's light the candles." She put her arm around Emily and gently

led her back to the dining-room table, where the cake was waiting. It was shaped like a snake, and when Emily saw it, she almost burst into tears again. "I wish that was real," she said. "I'd have it eat Hank." Just then, the doorbell rang. My dad made his way across the living room to answer it while Papa Pete helped my mom light the candles. "Before you blow out the candles, make a wish, sweetie," she said.

"I wish Ginger the snake was here," Emily said. "She is," a voice rang out. Everyone's head spun around at the same time and we saw Ralph being led into the dining room by my dad. Ginger was wrapped around his arm, and Boris the skink was happily riding on his shoulder. Everyone in the room let out a gasp, the loudest one coming from my sister, Emily. "Ginger!" she screamed, dashing over to Ralph and reaching out to pet Ginger gently on

her head. "I can't believe you came. Daddy, thank you so much!" "I didn't do anything," my dad said. "Neither did I," my mom added. "Me neither," Papa Pete said. "It was your big brother, little lady," Ralph said. "He came all the way to my apartment to invite me here today." "But you said you couldn't make it," I said to Ralph. "I left the other party early so I could pay Emily a visit," Ralph answered. "Why?" I asked him. I didn't understand. Ralph took off his big brown hat and turned to Emily. "I was mighty impressed with your brother, Hank," he said to her. "He wanted this to be the best birthday you ever had. When I was your age... hey, even now... I wish I'd had a brother like that. Hank really cares about you. And I just couldn't say no to him." Emily turned around slowly and looked me right in the eyes. "You did this for me?" she whispered.