Chapter 5

Chapter five, We got started right away. Frankie took the elevator up to his apartment to get the magic trick. While he was gone, Ashley suggested I practice walking around and talking with my costume on. I was pretty good about not tripping on the robe, but the beard was another story. Every time I moved my lips, the beard slipped off my face and landed on the ground. It looked like a fluffy white bunny rabbit fell asleep on my shoes. "This beard isn't working," I told Ashley. "Either it's too big or my face is too small." "I don't think your face is going to grow before the party," Ashley answered. "So we'll have to come up with another way to keep the beard on."

She looked around the storage room and noticed a roll of clear packing tape sitting on one of the shelves. "Just the thing," she said. She took the roll of tape and tore off two small pieces. Then I held very still while she taped the beard to both sides of the pink sunglasses. "Now your beard won't fall down unless you take the sunglasses off," Ashley said. By then, Frankie had returned with the magic trick. To me, it just looked like an empty black velvet bag.

"Oh, but feast your eyes on this," Frankie said, turning the bag inside out. "What do you see?" "An empty bag." Frankie turned the bag right-side out, so it was back to normal. Then with a big smile, he reached in and pulled out a long chain of colored scarves. "Zengawii!" he said. "It's magic." "How'd you do that?" I asked. "Very well." Frankie laughed. "That's what us magicians always say when someone asks how we do a trick." "Come on, Frankie. You have to tell me," I said. "How else am I going to learn?"

"Okay, but you have to promise not to tell. It's the Magicians' Code. We don't share our secrets." "I promise." "Me too," Ashley said. Frankie lowered his voice to a whisper. "The scarves are in a hidden compartment inside the lining of the bag. When you reach inside, you have to open the Velcro pocket to get to the scarves, without anyone seeing what you're doing. It takes practice. You're going to have to spend a lot of time on this trick, Hankster." "Okay," I agreed. "But first let's get the snake, and tie it to the end of the scarves. There's no point in practicing without it. I know right where they are at the ninety-nine-cent store... in between the canned artichokes and the Little Tugboat toothbrushes." "Then what are we waiting for?" Ashley asked. We took the elevator up to the tenth floor and burst into my apartment. My dad was sitting

in his leather chair, doing a crossword puzzle. "Dad!" I said. "We need to make an emergency trip to the ninety-nine-cent store. Can you please take us?" ( My dad didn't look up. He was concentrating. "What's a seven-letter word for this clue: 'You don't want to bite this in public.'" "A crossing guard," I answered. Now my dad looked up. "How did you come up with that, Hank?" I smiled proudly. "My brain is on fire, Dad." My sister, Emily, walked into the living room, putting her nose where it didn't belong, as usual. "First of all," she said. "'Crossing guard' has thirteen letters. And second of all, the answer is 'toenail.'" My dad gave her a big smile. "Thank you, honey," he said. Then he put down his puzzle and said, "We're going to the ninety-nine-cent store. Why don't you join us?" "Noooooooooooo!" Frankie and Ashley and

I cried all at once. My dad gave us that look, the one that says we're doing this my way. "Dad, Emily can't come," I tried to explain. "We have secret business to do that only the three of us can know about." "Don't be ridiculous, Hank," my dad said. "We don't have secrets in this family. Emily, get your jacket." Boy, was my dad ever wrong about not having secrets. We had one the size of Jupiter. "Hank," Frankie whispered as we put on our jackets. "We can't buy the snake with Emily there." "Don't worry about it, Frankie," I said with my most confident Zipzer attitude. "I have everything under control. Ashley will walk Emily to the other side of the store, and I'll pay for the snake. I got my wallet right here." I patted my pocket. It was empty. "Okay, so I don't have my wallet right here," I said. I guess the old Zipzer attitude still needed a