6. A Knock on the Gate

6 A Knock on the Gate All the grown-ups rushed over to break up the fight between the two clowns. That's when the weirdest thing in the history of the world happened. There was another knock on the gate. I thought it was going to be the pizza guy, or maybe another clown. But

it wasn't the pizza guy or another clown. I opened the gate, and there were two truck drivers standing there. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?" I asked. That's how grown-ups say "What are you doing here?" "We're here to deliver the giant inflatable bouncy castle," one of the truck drivers said. I looked behind them. There was a truck parked in the driveway with one of those giant inflatable bouncy castles on it. It was already inflated. "HUH?" I said, which is also "HUH" backward. "We didn't order a giant inflatable bouncy castle."

"Well, I got an email from Mr. Marty telling us to deliver a giant inflatable bouncy castle to this address," the guy said. "There must be some mistake," I said in my best talking-to-grown-ups voice. "Hey, that ain't my problem, kid," said the other truck driver. "We just make the deliveries. Where do you want it?" "Put it over there," I said, pointing to

the corner of the backyard. They carried in the giant inflatable bouncy castle. All the kids ran over and jumped on it. "Whee!" shouted Alexia. "Bouncy castles are cool!" The truck drivers left, and a few minutes later there was another knock on the gate. I ran over to open it. There was a guy pulling a big suitcase on wheels. He was wearing a backward baseball cap and sunglasses. "I'm DJ Jazzy Jim," he told me. "I work for Musical Munchkins. Where should I set up my stuff?" "We didn't hire a DJ," I told him. "Why not?" he said. "You can't have a party without music." "Okay," I told him. "You can set your stuff up in that corner over there."

A few minutes later, there was another knock on the gate. I opened it, and a lady with pigtails was doing jumping jacks. "Hi!" she said. "I'm Miss Tumbles from KinderGym. Is this the gymnastics party?" "It is now," I told her. "Come on in." When my dad saw DJ Jazzy Jim and Miss Tumbles come into the backyard, he marched over to Mr. Marty. "What's going on?" my dad demanded. "We didn't invite these people to the party." "Uhhhhhh," Mini-Marty said as Mr. Marty looked at his smartphone, "I seem to have made a little mistake. I think I may have emailed everyone on my client list by accident." "WHAT?!" my dad shouted. "You

made a little mistake? How much is this going to cost me?" "You said money was no object," Mini-Marty replied. I looked over at the gate. There were a bunch of other people lined up there. Some of them were wearing costumes. "Who are you?" I asked them. "Is this the dance party?" said a lady