Chapter 3
Mr. Kling was driving a van to the party. I got the middle seat in the middle row, all squished in. Unlucky Mrs. Kenly got stuffed in next to me. Her beautiful fur coat splashed across my lap when she sat down, fumpf.
The thing is, I always get carsick. When we drive to my grandfather’s house in the country, we have to stop a couple of times so I can get out and either throw up or just wait till the throw-uppy feeling goes away. My mother always brings a plastic bag just in case.
She sings her barf song:
“Always be prepared before you Venture out the door.
For if you’re not, then what you’ve got is Throw-up on your floor!“
I was NOT prepared when I got in the van with Mrs. Kenly. No bag and all squished in.
Plus, Mom had made pancakes that morning, like she usually does on Saturdays.
When I got downstairs, she was already on batch number two. She was singing her pancake song:
“Hey, butter, batter, butter, ssssss, flip flap,
Hey, butter, batter, butter, ssssss, flip flap.
Flip flop, flapjack, can you do a flip, Jack?
Hey, butter, batter, butter, flip flap, Jack.”
The Little Three weren’t eating much. Quinn and Ray are only one and a half, so Mom always tears their pancakes into pieces. Quinn was pounding them flat with his fist, shouting, “Yah! Yah! Yah!” Ray inspected each piece, all concentrating. Then he sucked out the syrup and dropped what was left on the floor for Lucy, the dog.
When they got bored with the pancakes, Quinn and Ray kicked their high chairs.
“Dow! Dow! Dow!” they yelled.
“Flip flop, flapjack, can you do a flip, Jack?” Mom sang louder, to distract Quinn and Ray. She needed to keep the boys locked in so they wouldn’t go crashing into furniture and eating crayons and all that stuff babies do when their mother is busy making pancakes.
Lily was at the table, singing, like always:
“Little lizard in my shoe,
Please don’t eat my candy cane ...”
Lily got the singing habit from Mom. Even when Lily’s chewing, she at least hums. So she never ends up eating a lot because who can eat and sing at the same time?
But me and Jack and Jenna always eat tons of pancakes. And on the day of Mrs. Kenly, we ate extra tons. We ate until we couldn’t take the noise of the twins banging and Lily singing and we went upstairs to play. But my stomach was so packed, I needed to lie down for a minute.
I climbed in my messy bed carefully. When I put a hand on my stomach, it felt like I’d swallowed a balloon.
“Uuuuhhhh ...” I closed my eyes and hoped my stomach would go back to normal fast.
“Cleo, are you getting ready?” Mom called from the kitchen. “They’ll be here in twenty minutes.”
“Uuuuuhhhhh ...”
It was party time.
