7. Calm Down

7 Calm Down They just kept coming, one after the other! There was a face painter, a bubble blower, a guy dressed like a ninja, a guy who looked like Frankenstein, two martial artists, and some lady named Mrs. Wizard who said she builds robots out of Legos. The backyard was jammed

with all kinds of party entertainers. I let them all in. There was no stopping them. Suddenly, I remembered that Darth Vader was still in the bathroom. He had been there for about a million hundred hours. I was starting to get worried. I ran inside the house and went over to the bathroom door. "Is everything okay in there, Mr. Vader?" I asked. "Can I get you anything?" "Just leave me alone," he shouted. "I'll be out soon." I went back to the party. Everybody seemed to be having a good time. People were painting their own pottery, jumping on the trampoline, and dancing to DJ Jazzy Jim's music. My grandmother was learning how to

Zumba, whatever that is. "You sure know how to throw a party, A.J.!" Ryan shouted over the music. "Yeah, but I'm starving," hollered Neil. "When is the pizza guy going to show up?" "Good question," I replied. At that point, I noticed some guy standing over by the gate.

"That must be the pizza guy!" I shouted. "At last!" everybody yelled. Mr. Marty and my dad went to the gate. But it wasn't the pizza guy. It was a guy wearing a top hat and a black cape. "Who are you?" my dad asked angrily. "It is I, the Amazing Tortolini!" the guy announced as he pulled out a deck of cards. "Pick a card, any card!" "Can you make all these people disappear?" muttered my dad. "You might as well come in. Everybody else is here." Right behind the Amazing Tortolini was a guy dressed as a cowboy and holding a guitar.

"Who are you?" my dad asked. "Ah am Drusty Rhodes, the Singin' Cowpoke," the guy said, really slowly. "Did you say Dusty or Rusty?" I asked. "It's Drusty," he replied. "Ah came to strum a few tunes for the young 'uns." Then he started to sing...

"The ants are my friends, blowin' in the wind..." Oh no, not that song! Why would anybody make friends with ants? My dad grabbed Mr. Marty. "When is your pizza guy going to get here?" Dad demanded. "The guests are complaining that they're starving." "Hmmmm," Mini-Marty said as Mr. Marty scrolled through the emails on his smartphone. "It looks like I made another tiny mistake. I may have forgotten to contact the pizza guy." "WHAT?!" my dad shouted. "You emailed all these other people, but you forgot to order the pizza?" My dad slammed the gate shut. His face was all red. It looked like he was going to explode. My mom came running over and put her arm around