Chapter 3

Chapter three, As soon as we got into our apartment, Emily ran to her room and slammed the door. I followed her and stood patiently outside of it, knocking until my knuckles hurt. She never said "Come in" or "Go away." "Emily!" I called. "Open the door. I have a great idea about your party." "Oh really? And what is your great idea, as if you could have one?" "Open the door and I'll tell you." I heard her walking across the carpet, then the door opened a crack. "What?" she said. "Well," I began. "You want a snake at your party, right?" "Duh."

"So all you have to do is produce one out of thin air. Problem solved." I smiled my best Hank Zipzer smile, giving her a touch of the old Zipzer attitude. It didn't work. She didn't buy it for one minute. "Hank," she said. "That is the craziest thing you've ever said. Snakes don't appear out of thin air. Now stop bugging me." She started to close the door, but before she could, I stuck my foot in the doorway to block it. I knew I had to come up with a plan she'd believe. Unfortunately, I didn't have one.

But to my surprise, when I opened my mouth, this is what came out. "Snakes do appear out of thin air," I said. "If you know the right people. And I do." "Who?" she asked. I opened my mouth again, and this time, an even bigger surprise was waiting on my tongue. "The Westside Wizard," I said. "Don't tell me you've never heard of him. His specialty is pulling snakes out of thin air and twirling them above his head. They get a little dizzy, but they love it because it makes kids happy." Emily looked at me suspiciously.

"And how do you know this Westside Wizard?" she asked. "I've never heard of him." "Emily, you may have forgotten, but I'm in the second grade. We second-graders know all kinds of things you little first-graders don't." "You don't know how to subtract, and I do," Emily pointed out. "Okay, fine," I told her. "You can talk about math all you want. I'll just call the wizard and tell

him you're not interested in having him come to your party." "No, no. Don't do that, Hank. Do you think he'd really come? The party's only a week away." I gave her that Zipzer smile again. "He will if I ask him," I said with confidence. Let me just say right here, I have no idea where that confidence was coming from. I had never heard of the Westside Wizard. It was just something that fell out of my mouth. I noticed that Emily was smiling. And it was the same excited smile she'd had at Ralph's booth at the street fair. "Hank! You are the best big brother in the world." She reached out and gave me a giant hug. Right in the middle of it, we both realized that this was weird. First of all, we don't hug. And second of all, she grabbed me so suddenly that her braids slapped me in the face. The hug stopped almost as soon as it started, which was just fine with me.

Emily rushed past me and ran into the living room. "Where are you going?" I shouted. "To call all the friends I invited and tell them about the Westside Wizard. This is going to be the best birthday party they've ever been to." On the one hand, it was good to see Emily so excited. On the other hand, I had gotten myself into a giant pickle. Actually, make that a whole jar of